Lloydminster, a week behind most of the rest of the province, can start the Re-open Saskatchewan plan on this coming Monday. The Ministry of Health says the outbreak in Lloydminster Hospital is stable and the community can proceed with plans to open services and businesses as described in Phase one of the Re-open plan.
Thursday, the province announced 19 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 15 in the far North including 12 in the La Loche area. The remaining four are in the north region. Approximately 37% of the 531 reported cases are considered active. There are currently 12 people in hospital with four of those patients in intensive care. Nine of those hospitalized are in Saskatoon and three are in the north region.
The province also wants to stress the the Re-open Saskatchewan plan is a guide for businesses and not a guide to personal prevention against getting COVID-19. Specifically, health authorities are taking into consideration older people or those with chronic conditions who are at elevated risk for a more severe form of the disease. They note that the more vulnerable may still want to be cautious in engaging in activities where physical distancing can’t be reliably maintained and masking isn’t in effect.
Of the 531 cases in the province:
139 cases are travellers;
231 are community contacts (mass gatherings included);
53 have no known exposures; and
108 are under investigation by local public health.
Overall in Saskatchewan:
43 cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
167 of the cases are from the Far North, 163 are from the Saskatoon area, 99 from the North, 76 from the Regina area, 15 from the South and 11 from the Central region.
71 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
188 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 163 are in the 40-59 age range; 93 are in the 60-79 age range; and 16 are in the 80-plus range.
50 per cent of the cases are females and 50 per cent are males.
Six deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
To date, 34,361 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of May 5, 2020, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 26,605 people tested per million population, which exceeds the national rate of 25,821 people tested per million population.
