Winnipeg is one of the largest cities in North America — if not the largest — to so far sail through the public health crisis with few cases of the disease, almost fully functional hospitals and an economy where only a handful of remaining businesses are not allowed to reopen.

And as if to underscore the rationale behind this second phase of Manitoba's reopening strategy, the province once again reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, nobody in hospital with the disease and an active provincial caseload of 10.

Ontario has nonetheless flattened the curve far more effectively than Quebec, Canada's undisputed COVID-19 hot spot, where 30,096 cases of COVID-19 remained active Monday.

Montreal alone has reported 25,545 cases of the disease since the pandemic started, including 2,927 deaths.

A grand total of 215 cases have been reported in Winnipeg.

Located in the centre of the continent, Winnipeg received few COVID-19 cases during the earliest days of the pandemic.

The Manitoba capital is not a major airline passenger hub, and Winnipeg lacks physical proximity to any major metropolitan area.

Timing helped out Winnipeg, because few international travellers visited the city in late February and early March, as the pandemic was heating up.

The province locked down hospitals four days after the first case of the disease was reported in Manitoba.

The most vulnerable people in Manitoba have so far avoided the worst of the pandemic.

At this point, the incidence of COVID-19 is so low in Manitoba, the greatest threat remains importing the disease from other parts of Canada and the rest of the world.

There's also no evidence many people in the city and province are immune to the disease.

He's the author of the Canadian bestseller A Daytripper's Guide to Manitoba: Exploring Canada's Undiscovered Province and co-author of both Stuck in the Middle: Dissenting Views of Winnipeg and Stuck In The Middle 2: Defining Views of Manitoba.