The provincial government’s latest report on respiratory illnesses which covers the last two weeks of December, indicates that ten people died who tested positive for COVID-19. One was in the 20 to 59 age group and the rest were 60 or older. The death toll is down from 11 in the week leading up to December 17th, to seven the following week and three in the final week of December. Since the pandemic began, there have been 1,800 deaths related to COVID in Saskatchewan.

The report says having a COVID-19 booster in the last six months reduces the risk of death from the virus by eight times compared to those with aren’t vaccinated, and over four times compared to those without a recent booster dose.

Three people died from the flu in the final two weeks of the year. Test positivity for the flu dropped from just over 20 per cent in the first week of December to five per cent in the last week, while RSV detections rose in the past month from 83 to 176 cases last week, and lab test positivity tripled from five to 15 per cent. There were 47 hospitalizations due to RSV in the last reporting week, and the majority were children up to 19 years old. RSV cases are largely in the pediatric age group.
Of the 124 cases which tested positive, 71 per cent were newborn to 4 years old.

Click here for the full report: CRISPreportJanuary62023