Latest COVID update May 9: Target date for first phase of Re-Opening Roadmap set for May 30, single-day vaccination record, active cases drop

A major threshold towards the first step of Saskatchewan’s Re-Opening Roadmap has been fulfilled.

The province reported Sunday that 71 per cent of people over the age of 40 have received their first vaccine dose.

The target date to begin the first phase has been set for May 30.

“The road back to normal runs right through our vaccination clinics and pharmacies.  I want to thank the thousands of health care workers who are delivering those vaccine shots every day in every part of the province, and I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Saskatchewan people who have done your part by getting vaccinated,” Premier Scott Moe said in a news release.

Once the first phase begins, restrictions will loosen, allowing more people in private gatherings and raising seating capacity at restaurants, among other changes. However, the province-wide mask mandate and restrictions on retail, personal care services, event facilities, casinos, bingo halls, theatres, art galleries, libraries and recreational facilities will stay the same.

In the latest update, the Ministry of Health reported Sunday that another 13,651 people got their vaccines – a single-day record. The total number so far now sits at 518,133.

“We may have reached the first re-opening target, but our vaccination targets are not slowing down,” Moe continued.

“We need to get as many people as possible vaccinated as quickly as possible so we can protect ourselves and those around us and so we can move to steps two and three of re-opening soon.”

A shipment of 63,180 Pfizer doses is expected to arrive in Saskatchewan this week. Deliveries are expected to be complete by Wednesday.

A look at the numbers

For the second straight day, no new deaths from COVID were reported in Saskatchewan.

The province also reported a dip in active cases and hospitalizations, as well as a significant number of vaccinations.

There are 177 new infections in the province, along with 210 recoveries. Together, that drops the active total to 2,260.

The new cases are located in the Regina (42), Saskatoon (40), northwest (18), southeast (18), south-central (15), central-east (14), southwest (11), north-central (nine), far northwest (eight) and central-west (one) areas. They’re still investigating the location for one new case, while one previously reported case was assigned to each of the Regina and north-central regions.

Eleven people were discharged from the hospital, leaving the total now at 157. Of those, 42 are in the ICU in the Regina (19), Saskatoon (15), north-central (three), central-east (two), southwest (one) and south-central (one) zones.

The seven-day average of daily new cases has dropped to 213, or 17.3 cases per 100,000 people.

After investigation, there were 155 new variant cases discovered. The Queen City still leads the province by a wide margin when it comes to variants: there have been 8,258 total cases discovered, with 4,185 in Regina.