On Saturday, Saskatchewan reached the Step Three threshold on the province Re-Opening Roadmap, with 70 per cent of Saskatchewan residents age 18 and older having received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

That means Step Three will begin on Sunday, July 11 – three weeks after Step Two.

On Sunday June 20, Saskatchewan enters Step Two of re-opening. In-person gathering limits increase across a number of sectors and for private gatherings.  Most notably, private indoor gatherings will increase from 10 to 15 people.  Note that the provincial masking mandate remains in place under Step Two.

While masking and physical distancing requirements stay, there will be no capacity limits for  restaurants and licensed establishments, grocery stores, public and farmers’ markets, clothing and retail stores, personal service facilities such as salons, and greenhouse and landscaping locations.

The capacity limits increase to 150 from 30 for patrons/spectators in sports and activities, arena facilities, libraries, movie and live theatre venues, performing arts venues, casinos and bingo halls, for temporary food vendors, racing, livestock sales and rodeos, banquets and conference facilities; car and trade shows.

All indoor facilities and activities and outdoor activities where two metres of physical distancing cannot be consistently maintained must continue to abide by physical distancing and masking requirements in Step Two.

Effective June 20:

• Table capacity limits are being removed in all restaurants and licensed establishments. Previously, they were limited to six per table.  Dining tables will still need to maintain two metres of physical distance or have a barrier placed between them.
• Retailers can welcome more shoppers, as capacity limits will be removed as long as two metres of physical distance can be maintained between customers.
• Indoor sport competitions will be able to resume, as many restrictions are being lifted. Tournaments will be permitted, however interprovincial play is not and no more than 150 spectators are permitted in the facility.
• Capacity limits for banquet and conference facilities will increase to 150 people. Attendees may be served food and/or beverage in the facility, but must remain seated except when getting their food/beverage, using washroom facilities or entering/exiting the premises.  Self-serve is not permitted at this time.
• The number of movie goers may increase to 150 from the current limit of 30.
• Dance recitals and competitions will be able to resume for all ages and the maximum capacity limit for spectators of all performing arts facilities will be 150.

In Step Three, the majority of public health measures will be lifted.  The only remaining measures will be restrictions on mass public gatherings, and the mandatory masking order.  Both remaining restrictions could be removed soon as Saskatchewan approaches 70 per cent of residents ages 12 and older having received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

There are 55 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on June 19, bringing the provincial total to 48,381 cases.

The new cases are located in the following zones: Far North West, 2; Far North East, 2; North West, 7; North Central, 1; North East, 2; Saskatoon, 12; Central West, 1; Central East, 5; Regina, 12; South West, 1; South Central, 3; and South East, 3.  Four cases are pending residence information.

Eight cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North West, 7; and Regina, 1; zones.

Recoveries total 47,059 and 760 cases are considered active.

There are 82 people in hospital.  71 are receiving inpatient care: Far North West, 1; North West, 10; North Central, 9; North East, 1; Saskatoon, 27; Central East, 2; Regina, 17; and South Central, 4.  11 people are in intensive care: North Central, 1; Saskatoon, 6; and Regina, 4.

There were 1,802 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on June 18, 2021.

To date, 899,888 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.  As of June 17, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 757,769 tests performed per million population.  The national rate was 948,625.

As of June 18, 11,930 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the following zones: Far North West, 290; Far North Central, 1; Far North East, 80; North West, 770; North Central, 613; North East, 79; Saskatoon, 2,066; Central West, 144; Central East, 640; Regina, 4,770; South West, 399; South Central, 883; and South East, 1,125.  There are 70 screened VOCs with residence pending.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 case number is 71 (5.8 per 100,000).  A chart comparing today’s average to data collected over the past several months is available here.

Information on the Roadmap to Re-Opening is available here.

Guidance for individual sectors has been updated and is available here.