SUN demands more transparency after COVID-19 case at Pasqua Hospital

The president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses doesn’t understand why Regina’s Pasqua Hospital is being treated differently than Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital.

Tracy Zambory said Friday on Saskatchewan Afternoon that an outbreak should have been declared after a patient tested positive for COVID-19 at the Pasqua, just as an outbreak had been declared at the P.A. facility on May 1 after a single patient was diagnosed with the virus.

Zambory said the union believes the definition of an outbreak now is in “a very fluid state.”

Asked if she thought the definition had been changed to keep the Pasqua open, Zambory said: “It begs the question.”

“You would wonder why is there a change all of a sudden from the protocol that happened at the Victoria Hospital in P.A.?” she asked. “Why is it any different at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina? And why all of a sudden is there the change? And why is Dr. (Saqib) Shahab speculating that, ‘Oh, maybe it’s a weak positive (at the Pasqua).’ It doesn’t matter if it’s a weak positive. This person has still been deemed as a positive COVID patient.

“There seems to be some very strange actions happening the closer we get to these phases of reopening in the province.”

Zambory is calling for more transparency — and perhaps more caution — from the provincial government in light of the case at the Pasqua.

She said the government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) should view the case as a red flag as Phase 2 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan and Phase 1 of the SHA’s resumption of medical services approach.

Both are to happen Tuesday.

“Both things we understand need to happen,” Zambory said. “But we also were very hopeful that the leadership would be brave enough that if we started to see situations such as this, we would be transparent and honest about it and have that brave reaction to take that step back to say, ‘Y’know, we do know we need to proceed, but right now may not be the best time. Perhaps we should just slow on down and do what’s right for the people of Saskatchewan.’

“That right thing is to make sure they are healthy and they are safe.”

Zambory noted workers at the Pasqua weren’t told the patient had COVID-19 until five days after the person was admitted to the hospital.

The nurses’ union says at least 100 of its members came in contact with the patient. Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said Thursday that 20 close contacts of the patient were being assessed but there wasn’t any evidence of transmission.

Zambory said the nurses should have received more information in a more timely manner.

“The only reason that they knew that there was a COVID patient was that public health — who does the contact tracing — contacted one of our members to say, ‘You’ve been in contact with a COVID-19-positive patient,’ ” Zambory said. “They had no idea.”

A look at Friday’s numbers

The government reported the number of recoveries from COVID-19 in the province has passed the 400 mark.

In a media release, the government said 10 more people had been declared recovered, bringing that total to date to 408.

There also were eight new cases as of Friday; that number now stands at 590.

It was the fifth straight day that the number of recoveries exceeded the number of new cases.

Six people have died to date in Saskatchewan.

All of the new cases reported Friday are in the far north, with five in La Loche and three in Beauval.

The number of active cases dropped to 176, comprising 147 in the far north, 18 in the north, nine in Saskatoon, one in Regina and one in the central area. The south doesn’t have any active cases.

Nine people are in hospital in the province, including six (three in Saskatoon, two in Regina and one in the north) who are receiving inpatient care. Three people are in intensive care in Saskatoon.

Of the total number of cases, 304 are community contacts, 139 are travellers, 68 don’t have any known exposures, and 79 are being investigated by local public health officials.

The total number of cases includes 48 health-care workers, some of whom contracted the virus outside of work.

To date, there have been 218 cases in the far north, 163 in the Saskatoon area, 106 in the north, 76 from the Regina area, 15 from the south and 12 from the central region.

There have been 209 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 181 between the ages of 40 and 59, 99 in the 60-to-79 range, 83 aged 19 and under, and 18 aged 80 and over.

There were 505 tests done Thursday, increasing the total to date in the province to 39,233.

Shahab told Gormley on Friday that the province expects testing to increase.

“Some people who are now entering the workforce, they may have some concerns about their own health, about their families’ health, and if you have any concerns and you want to resolve that, go ahead and get tested and that will reassure you if it’s negative and reassure us at a provincial level that testing is happening at a fair number,” Shahab said.

“(Daily testing) may not hit the 1,000 mark or 1,500 — it doesn’t need to if the COVID-19 activity is low — but as long as we have a decent 400, 500, 600 700 or higher tests a day over the next little while and the test-positive rate is fairly low, that will reassure us over the summer that COVID activity is low.”