TORONTO -- Hutterite colonies across Western Canada have become the epicentre of recent COVID-19 outbreaks, a development that has many members of these communities feeling targeted.

The religious group has long considered themselves to be quite private. Now, as case numbers rise, they have become the focus of press conferences.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe highlighted the community as a concern during a press briefing on Tuesday to announce that they would be 鈥渓imiting the essential travel to a small number of designated individuals.

鈥淭his includes travel between Hutterite communities,鈥� he said.

Moe鈥檚 comments came after of COVID-19 within the province, 43 of which were from a single Hutterite colony. This Saturday alone, in Saskatchewan, 29 of which stemmed from Hutterite colonies in the central and south regions of the province.

More than 20 colonies have reported cases of COVID-19 across Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In a , Manitoba health officials confirmed that new cases were on Hutterite colonies.

Authorities have told the public not to discriminate against or stigmatize members of these communities simply because of the new rise in COVID-19 cases.

Still, many in the Hutterite community are running damage control.

Saskatchewan鈥檚 Arm River Colony, which operates a large poultry operation, says about 20 per cent, despite the fact that they have zero COVID-19 cases within their community.

鈥淲e as Hutterites are not all the same,鈥� George Hofer, poultry manager of the Arm River Farming Company, told CTV News. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 all live in one colony.鈥�

Colony members say they have followed public health rules to stay protected from the virus.

鈥淲e shut down our kitchens, we ate at home, family-wise, we didn鈥檛 even bend the rules,鈥� Paul Waldner, a minister from the CanAm Hutterite Colony. 鈥淵ou know, I can only speak for myself.鈥�

Waldner , threatening to file a human rights complaint over officials publicly identifying Hutterites colonies as the location of these outbreaks -- an action that has directly led to discrimination against other Hutterite colonies and Hutterites in general, he believes.

鈥淧eople have become scared of us,鈥� Waldner told CTV News on Thursday.

Of course, Hutterites are not the only group where COVID-19 data is being tracked and then publicly shared. If a COVID-19 case surfaces among groups including First Nations communities, airline passengers or truck drivers, that demographic data has also been shared.

It鈥檚 a clash between privacy and public health, one of many to emerge over the course of the pandemic.

Arthur Shafer, an ethicist who teaches philosophy at the University of Manitoba, says that authorities need to be transparent about COVID-19 data.

鈥淧ublic trust is probably the most precious resource that public health officials have in a time of pandemic,鈥� he told CTV News. 鈥淢anitoba public health should have given all the information they did, but they also have to stress that all the public health rules were followed (by the Hutterite community).鈥�

Another point for transparency is that specificity of data can also assist officials and health experts to tailor their response to better serve communities that are experiencing a new surge in COVID-19 cases.

However, after members of Hutterite communities raised their concerns about discrimination, officials announced that a change is coming to Manitoba regarding this public sharing of data.

The province鈥檚 Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, said on Thursday that going forward, the information released to the public will be less specific, only naming the health region is which a new positive case has been identified.

"I think moving forward, for the most part, we are going to refer to clusters as clusters in the most generic way that we can," said Roussin. He clarified that if the health of Manitobans appears to be at risk, they will release more specific information to combat that.

He added that making assumptions about specific groups out of fear is 鈥渘ot useful 鈥� and it actually hinders Public Health's ability to control this virus.

鈥淏e kind to each other, don't stigmatize each other, don't assume things about people, and let Public Health address this.鈥�