A $2,000.00 fine has been issued to the person who hosted the social gathering in Saskatoon that has led to 21 recent cases of COVID-19. According to Thursday’s update from the Ministry of Health, about 47 people attended a private, social gathering in a large household exceeding the Public Health Order restriction of 30 people for an indoor gathering.

Otherwise, Thursday’s report has seven new cases of the novel coronavirus in Saskatchewan while the pending case from Wednesday was removed from the provincial total because it was a person who was a non-resident of Saskatchewan. Four of the new cases are located in Saskatoon, two in the South East one and one in the South West region. That brings the provincial total of COVID-19 cases to 1,757. However, four individuals are reported as having recovered in Thursday’s update for a provincial total of 1,624…leaving the active case count at 109. Of the active cases, five people are receiving inpatient care in Saskatoon hospitals and 29 of the active cases are from Hutterite colonies.

None of the four new cases reported Thursday in Saskatoon are from the social gathering, which was first reported on Sunday. Contact tracing continues, with other new infections likely to be identified before the chain of transmission is resolved.

Of the 1,757 cases in the province to date:

• 263 cases are travellers;
• 875 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
• 520 have no known exposures; and
• 99 are under investigation by local public health

Overall in Saskatchewan to date:

• 69 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
• 294 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 574 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 538 are in the 40-59 age range; 293 are in the 60-79 age range; and 58 are in the 80-plus range.
• 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
• 24 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
• There are:
  • 434 cases are from the south area (222 south west, 197 south central, 15 south east)
  • 357 cases are from the far north area (349 far north west, 0 far north central, 8 far north east)
  • 326 cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 271 cases are from the north area (131 north west, 73 north central, 67 north east)
  • 229 cases are from the central area (168 central west, 61 central east)
  • 140 cases are from the Regina area

To date, 164,666 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of September 15, 2020 when other provincial and national numbers are available from Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 116,815 people tested per million population. The national rate was 169,055 people tested per million population.

On Wednesday, 1,515 COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan.

Weekly Reporting of Testing Numbers and Cases for Youth

Additional information about the trends of COVID-19 cases in school-aged children is now available. A new weekly report includes cases and testing numbers for children aged 0-19 with data by age categories and testing positivity rates.

Data is provided by 32 sub-zones to help the public more easily identify areas where virus activity may be more prevalent. Information is not specific to schools, but schools with a declared outbreak will be posted at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/latest-updates.

Information for the week of September 7-12 is posted at www.saskatchewan.ca/COVID19-Safe-Schools-Plan. Reports will be published Thursdays.

Gathering Sizes

In Saskatchewan and across the country, public health authorities are seeing increasing transmission rates as a result of public and private gatherings that are in contravention of public health orders and guidelines. Public health orders in Saskatchewan specify that indoor and outdoor gatherings may have a maximum of 30 people, provided there is enough space to maintain a two metre separation between individuals who are not in the same household. Gathering sizes should be smaller if there isn’t enough space to maintain a physical distance of two metres at all times.

There can be very serious consequences for not following Public Health Orders limiting the size of private and public gatherings, including fines. Fines may be $2,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations, plus a victim surcharge.

A $2,000 fine has been issued to the organizer of a large social gathering in a private household in Saskatoon. This private gathering had approximately 47 people in attendance, contravening the gathering size limit of 30 people in the Public Health Order. This gathering has subsequently led to 21 identified cases of COVID-19 to date.