For the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the Far North of the province almost a month ago, specifically in the La Loche community, Friday’s update shows less than 100 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Saskatchewan. Friday’s report has five new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 – four in the Far North and one in the South region of the province…for a total of 627.
12 people recovered from the virus for a total of 521 Saskatchewan recoveries. That means 83 per cent of the people who contracted the virus have recovered, to date. With seven deaths from COVID-19, that leaves 99 active cases of COVID-19 in the province…five of those in hospital, one in Regina and three of the four in Saskatoon in the I-C-U.
The Public Health Agency of Canada now recommends everyone to wear a non-medical cloth mask in community settings, even if you don’t have symptoms, where physical distancing is unpredictable, like public transit or in grocery stores.
Avoid touching the mask, and if you need to adjust it, wash your hands afterward.
Put on and take off the mask with clean hands using the ear loops or ties, being careful not to touch your face, and these masks should be washed after every use.
The rest of the numbers:
Of the 627 cases in the province:
140 cases are travellers;
349 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
73 have no known exposures; and
65 are under investigation by local public health.
Overall in Saskatchewan:
49 cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
248 of the cases are from the Far North, 165 are from the Saskatoon area, 110 from the North, 76 from the Regina area, 16 from the South and 12 from the Central region.
92 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
223 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 190 are in the 40-59 age range; 104 are in the 60-79 age range; and 18 are in the 80-plus range.
51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
Seven deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
To date, 42,843 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of May 20, 2020, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 32,979 people tested per million population, while the national rate was 36,637 people tested per million population.
