President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, Marlo Pritchard says work is underway increase access to urgent, emergent and cancer care services, and the hope is to begin organ donation surgeries by the end of the month, if ICU cases continue to decline. He adds that goals have been set for redeploying staff to their original jobs so services can resume. By the end of next week, half of the eligible staff who were redeployed will return, followed by 75 per cent by November 19th and rising to at least 90 per cent by the end of the month.

As of 6 this morning (Tues), there were 86 new, confirmed cases of COVID-19. Marlo Pritchard considers this good news, because it means the downward trend has gone from triple digits to double digits. There are 193 people in the hospital with the virus, including 51 in an ICU. There are also 45 people who don’t have COVID in an ICU for a total of 96.

Fifteen Saskatchewan patients are receiving care in Ontario. Seven patients have come back to the province but five people succumbed to the virus while receiving care in Ontario. Pritchard expects more patients to be transferred back to Saskatchewan as doctors feel they are healthy enough to do so.

Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer says just over 80 per cent of the patients admitted to an ICU with COVID-19 in October were unvaccinated. Dr. Saqib Shahab says October’s statistics show the risk for getting a mild illness is six times lower if you are fully vaccinated, risk of hospitalization is 12 times lower and and an ICU admission risk is 28 times lower. People who are fully vaccinated can still get a mild illness and some end up in the hospital and can die, but it’s more likely people who have immune suppression or are older. The Chief Medical Health Officer stresses the importance of vaccinations, even as the transmission rate lowers. He explains that hospitals need to get back to more normal levels so more services and surgeries can resume.

Shahab says he is not willing to accept that Saskatchewan will remain the least vaccinated province forever. Eighty-six per cent of eligible Saskatchewan residents have received their first dose and 80 per cent are fully vaccinated, but Shahab says that still leaves 20 per cent who are unvaccinated who are more likely to get COVID-19, and more likely to be hospitalized and succumb to the disease.