While some areas of the province may be reporting zero to very few cases of COVID-19, the Saskatchewan government says new cases are still occurring every day and the Provincial State of Emergency has been extended. This means the accompanying public health orders are still in effect which includes no gatherings of more than 10 people and continuing to practice physical distancing.
The government stresses this is particularly important as businesses and services continue to re-open. Some professional medical services re-opened last week, golf courses open on Friday and the second phase of Re-Open Saskatchewan is slated to get underway next Tuesday.
Eighty per cent of the active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan are in the far north region. They have 149 of 186 active cases and there have been 577 cases of novel coronavirus reported to date in the province. There were four new cases of COVID-19 reported in Saskatchewan Wednesday and all were in the La Loche area.
Provincial Budget:
During the Premier’s daily update, Scott Moe says the hope is to present a full budget in the Legislature before the election. House leaders are trying to come up with an agreement of a version of a modified Legislature. Spending estimates were introduced this spring and the Minister of Finance released projections before the Legislature was closed because of COVID-19.
Moe says Finance Minister Donna Harpauer will present a revised revenue projection in June and in August, there will be a first quarter budget update and projections for the rest of the year. If an agreement on reconvening the Legislature doesn’t happen, all of the financial updates will be made public, and in particular in August with the first quarter update.
Back to the Numbers:
Sixty-seven per cent of those who have contracted COVID-19 have recovered from the virus. There have been six deaths in Saskatchewan.
Of the 577 cases in the province:
139 cases are travellers;
297 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
65 have no known exposures; and
76 are under investigation by local public health.
Overall in Saskatchewan:
48 cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
206 of the cases are from the Far North, 163 are from the Saskatoon area, 106 from the North, 75 from the Regina area, 15 from the South and 12 from the Central region.
79 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
204 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 179 are in the 40-59 age range; 98 are in the 60-79 age range; and 17 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, 38,157 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of May 10, 2020, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 29,631 people tested per million population, which is slightly below the national rate of 30,452 people tested per million population. This is due to decreased demand for testing, not a drop in testing capacity, due to the success of preventative measures and the reduction in positive cases in many areas of the province.
