SHA Chief Medical Officer warns of ‘pandemic inside a pandemic’ as younger people are hospitalized with COVID-19

One of Saskatchewan’s top medical officers is warning about new trends in COVID-19 transmission suggesting variants of concern are becoming the dominant strains across the province.

Saskatchewan Health Authority Chief Health Officer Dr. Susan Shaw said strains like the B.1.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) mutation are forcing younger people with more severe symptoms into hospitals for treatment.

“We’ve seen our new cases really shift over, so that in Regina-area in particular, and the south, it’s really becoming the most dominant version of the COVID virus,” Shaw said in an interview with Gormley Friday.

“This version, the U.K. variant, is more deadly as well. It causes more severe disease and it’s resulting in more death.”

Shaw estimated variants have been spreading in Saskatchewan since the early new year, and after a few months, that transmission is straining healthcare services in Regina and parts of southern Saskatchewan.

“This is what’s really worrying — it’s like a new pandemic inside the first pandemic,” Shaw said. “That’s why we really need to buckle down.”

On Thursday, Dr. Saqib Shahab said rising case numbers in the south indicate variants of concern are spreading in other communities in southern Saskatchewan outside of Regina.

Moose Jaw and Weyburn were specifically flagged by Shahab as areas where variants are spreading.

“This just reinforces that while we have significant measures in Regina right now, all of us throughout Saskatchewan should continue to observe everything we’ve been doing,” he said.

Shaw also warned that variants aren’t just spreading to more locations, they’re also spreading to younger patients.

“We know that five of the last 10 people admitted to the general hospital in Regina were under 40 years old. That is not what we saw in the fall at all,” Shaw said.

This is not a Regina problem, this is a Saskatchewan problem which means we all have the solution within us.”