Latest COVID update Jan. 12: 5 deaths, 248 new cases

The death toll in Saskatchewan due to COVID-19 now stands at 204.

In its daily COVID update Tuesday, the provincial government said five more residents who had tested positive for the virus had died.

Two people in the 80-and-over age group who lived in the Regina zone passed away. The other deaths were a person in their 70s from the far northwest area, an individual in their 70s from the northwest zone, and a person in their 30s from the southwest zone.

The province also announced there were 248 new cases — the lowest single-day total since Jan. 5.

As a result of the recent rates of transmission, the public health order that took effect Dec. 17 will remain in effect until Jan. 29. At that time, that order — which was due to expire Friday — will be reviewed by chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab.

Under those measures:

• Private indoor gatherings are limited to people who live in the same household;
• Outdoor gatherings are capped at 10 people, provided physical distancing between households can be maintained;
• Casinos and bingo halls must remain closed;
• Personal services such as hairdressers/barbers, esthetics, massage therapy, acupuncture, tattooing and similar businesses can operate at a maximum of 50 per cent capacity, including staff and clients;
• Event venues, conference facilities, arenas, arts venues, museums, movie and live theatres and banquet facilities can have events of up to 30 people;
• Weddings, funeral ceremonies and worship services are limited to 30 people. Other services can’t occur in multiple locations within one facility; and
• Retail services must limit their capacity to 50 per cent. Large retail outlets — those with a square footage of more than 20,000 — are limited to 25 per cent capacity.

Mandatory masking is still required in indoor public places and non-essential interprovincial travel is discouraged.

Shahab said during a conference call Tuesday that the same measures were bringing down case numbers in mid-December, but gatherings over the holidays resulted in increased transmission between households.

“The modelling had predicted that even if 10 per cent of household members don’t comply with the orders, we will see the spike that we have seen,” Shahab said.

He noted there also were violations of the public health orders by some businesses and their patrons, which also resulted in outbreaks.

“We have to recognize that unless all of us pull together, COVID comes backs with a vengeance and that’s what we are seeing right now,” Shahab said.

“Unless we can collectively return to our very cautious behaviour that allowed us to do so many things that we saw in mid-December, we will not be able to reverse this trend and then unfortunately we would have to recommend several measures that could be quite significant.”

A look at the numbers

The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (53), Regina (37), northwest (30), north-central (26), far northeast (20), far northwest (11), southeast (11), central-east (10), south-central (eight), northeast (five), far north-central (two), central-west (two) and southwest (two) zones. The hometowns of 31 cases remain unknown.

The provincial total of cases to date is 18,770. The seven-day average of new cases stood at 321.

There were 226 recoveries reported Tuesday, increasing that total so far to 14,814. There are 3,752 active cases being reported.

Of the 191 people in hospital, 29 are in intensive care, with 14 in the Saskatoon area, nine in the Regina region, four in the north-central zone and one in each of the northwest and central-east areas.

Of the total, 886 are health-care workers.

The total comprises 4,962 cases from the Saskatoon area, 4,826 from the north, 3,540 in the Regina region, 2,358 from the far north area, 1,888 from the south, 1,089 in the central region, and 107 that have pending residence information.

There have been 6,782 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 4,752 between the ages of 40 and 59, 3,959 among people 19 and under, 2,407 from ages 60 to 79, and 862 in the 80-and-over age range. The ages of eight cases have yet to be determined.

The 1,995 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Monday increased the province’s total to 456,045.

Vaccine update

As of Tuesday morning, 9,880 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Saskatchewan.

That includes 903 that were given on Monday — 219 in Regina, 210 in Prince Albert, 122 in the far northeast, 119 in the northeast, 88 in the far northwest, 81 in Saskatoon and 64 in the far north-central area.

The province’s total to date comprises: 2,069 doses and 1,449 second doses of Pfizer in the Regina pilot program; 2,928 Pfizer doses in Saskatoon; 824 Pfizer doses in Prince Albert; 684 Moderna doses in the far northwest zone; 226 Moderna doses in the far north-central area; 1,193 Moderna doses in the far northeast region; and 507 Moderna doses in the northeast zone.

Premier Scott Moe admitted the vaccine rollout should be going faster in the province and said some of the government’s policy decisions — such as holding back second doses for the pilot project in Regina — were responsible for the slow start. Moe said things will change.

Vaccines that were held back for second doses will instead be given immediately. Some doses that were to be sent to the far north — where it’s difficult to vaccinate a lot of people quickly — will be redirected to other areas so that more people can be vaccinated quicker. And the Pfizer vaccine now will be moved to secondary locations instead of staying in the communities to which it initially was shipped.

“We do need to pick up the pace of our vaccinations here in Saskatchewan and we will,” Moe said. “These three changes will allow our health-care workers to get more Saskatchewan residents vaccinated more quickly in the days and weeks ahead.”

A shipment of 6,825 doses of the Pfizer vaccine was slated to arrive in Saskatoon on Tuesday. Vaccinations are planned for long-term and personal care home residents and staff in that area.

A shipment of 5,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine is scheduled to arrive in the province on Thursday. Of those doses, 500 will be sent to the far northeast zone as initially planned.

The other 4,900 doses are to go as first doses to long-term and personal care home residents and staff as well as health-care workers in the southeast and central-east zones. Moe said 50 communities — including Wadena, Canora Kamsack, Kelvington and Weyburn — would receive doses.