The Saskatchewan government is urging the province’s residents to keep New Year’s Safe acknowledging that while most of us are eager to say farewell to 2020, the rules around gathering sizes and events remain in place.  You must keep your celebrations to your household, you can connect with friends and family virtually or head outdoors to wish your neighbours a happy new year at a safe distance.  There was another death in Saskatchewan of a senior in their 80s who tested positive for COVID-19.  This person was from the Saskatoon zone.  There were 190 new cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan on Thursday. The provincial total to date is 15,350 cases of COVID-19.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (9), Far North East (22), North West (12), North Central (37), North East (2), Saskatoon (47), Central West (2), Central East (4), Regina (23), South West (3), South Central (8) and South East (10) zones.  Eleven (11) new cases have pending residence information.

Fifteen previously reported cases have been assigned to the North West (2) and North Central (13) zones.

As of December 31, there are 54 active COVID-19 cases among inmates and three active cases among staff at the Regina Correctional Centre.  This number is expected to increase as testing is underway.  Note that all new admissions to provincial correctional facilities are tested and screened for COVID-19 upon admission, and again after 10 days.  Offenders are also tested if they are symptomatic, are identified as requiring testing due to contact tracing, or being moved to a reduced custody setting.

Of the 15,350 cases, 2,699 cases are considered active.   One hundred and forty-two people are in hospital.  One hundred and twelve people are receiving inpatient care: two in the Far North West, seven in the North West; 21 in the North Central; two in the North East; 39 in the Saskatoon; one in the Central West; six in the Central East; 32 in the Regina; one in the South West; and one in the South East zones.  Thirty people are in intensive care: three in the North West; five in the North Central; nine in the Saskatoon; one in Central East; 11 in the Regina; and one in the South West zones.

As of December 30, 3,458 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been provided to health care workers in Regina as part of the initial pilot and in Saskatoon as part of Phase 1.

Of the 15,350 cases in the province:

• 632 cases are travelers;
• 7,559 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
• 3,578 have no known exposures; and
• 3,581 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan to date:

• 723 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
• 3,229 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 5,497 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 3,933 are in the 40-59 age range; 2,004 are in the 60-79 age range; and 682 are in the 80-plus range. Confirmation of age is pending for five cases.
• 50 per cent of the cases are female and 50 per cent are male.
• 155 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

Of 15,350 confirmed cases:

• 4,311 cases are from the Saskatoon area
• 3,727 cases are from the north area (1,401 north west, 1,820 north central, 506 north east)
• 2,991 cases are from the Regina area
• 1,714 cases are from the far north (909 far north west, 106 far north central, 699 far north east)
• 1,591 cases are from the south (562 south west, 543 south central, 486 south east)
• 933 cases are from the central area (341 central west, 592 central east)
• 83 cases have pending residence information

To date, 426,731 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.  As of December 29, 2020 when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 256,659 people tested per million population.  The national rate was 366,464 people tested per million population.

Yesterday, 2,198 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 157 (13 new cases per 100,000 population) and is now available on the Government of Saskatchewan website.  This chart compares today’s average to data collected over the past several months.  Please visit https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.

Case Information Posting through New Year’s

The daily provincial case information will not be available tomorrow, January 1. Case information from January 1 will be included in the next, scheduled information posting on January 2.

Expansion to Drive-thru Testing Sites

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is expanding drive-thru testing hours in Regina and Saskatoon.  Effective January 4, the Saskatoon site will be open seven days a week, while the Regina site will have expanded hours, opening each day at 11:30 a.m. starting January 2.  More information can be found at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/testing-information.