Hanover in 2015, the first major annexation for the city since 1979. Steinbach was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in August 2020, with the virus affecting community members, several businesses, and eventually an outbreak at Bethesda Place, the personal care home at Bethesda Regional Health Centre. By November 2020, Steinbach briefly had the highest per capita rate of Covid infections in Canada. The Bethesda Regional Health Centre was reportedly overwhelmed and out of beds on November 13, 2020, with patients having to be triaged in their cars. Liquor and cannabis licence referendums Despite being prohibited by local churches, Steinbach had alcohol sales, including beverage rooms, throughout the early 20th century. In 1950, however, Steinbach citizens voted to prohibit all liquor sales in the community, although a drinking establishment on Main Street called The Tourist Hotel was allowed to remain, until it closed in 1973. Since the 1970s, Steinbach has had 7 separate referendums on whether liquor sales should be allowed within the confines of the city, all of which failed until a 2003 referendum when Steinbach residents narrowly voted to allow limited liquor sales in the city, despite opposition from then mayor Les Magnusson. The 2003 referendum, however, passed only a dining room licence, permitting alcohol to be sold and served only with sales of food. In 2007, the issue of serving alcohol in restaurant lounges was defeated by only 9 votes. In the same referendum, voters approved, by a slightly wider margin, allowing sports facilities such as the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Course to serve alcohol. In February 2008, Steinbach Council voted in favour of opening a liquor store on Main Street, as prohibition had been lifted. Eventually, the first Liquor Mart in Steinbach opened in March 2009, on PTH 12 North, operated by the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission. The most recent public vote was held in October 2011. In this referendum, voters agreed to accept, by a large margin, the following three licences: beverage rooms, cocktail lounges, and private club licences. In 2018, after the Canadian government legalized cannabis, Steinbach residents voted to deny the licensing of retail cannabis stores in the city. Geography Steinbach is located on the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies, and is also located directly east of the Red River Valley. The flat land in Steinbach was originally a thick patch of poplar trees. The land was flat and very swampy, with the