Hospitalizations ‘stabilize’ but ICUs still under strain, says SHA’s emergency chief

The chief of emergency operations for the Saskatchewan Health Authority says hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have steadied in Regina.

“We are seeing the numbers stabilize in Regina and they have come down from a high about 10 days ago on the 23rd of April,” said Derek Miller.

“We’ve been able to move away from having patients two to a room in the ICU, which is positive. But (all of the rooms) are still occupied. They’re still operating at a number that’s greater than their normal capacity.”

As of Monday, there were 39 COVID patients in intensive care units around the province, with 21 of those in Regina, 14 in Saskatoon, two in the central-east zone and one in each of the north-central and south-central regions.

At its peak on April 23, the total number of COVID patients in Saskatchewan ICUs was 52, with 35 of those in Regina.

There were 174 people in Saskatchewan hospitals due to the virus on Monday; in April, that number got as high as 206.

Speaking to Gormley on Tuesday, Miller said the Regina ICU remains under strain.

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet in terms of our pressures on our ICU in the province. Variants of concern, they’re still looming and we all need to be vigilant. We’re not out of this yet,” he said.

This week, the province will receive 63,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which is about double the typical shipment. Miller said the province received 18,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine last week. This coming week, the province will get 31,000 doses.

He said the province will get 9,300 doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine, which is awaiting approval from Health Canada to be used.

Just over 3,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine remain, Miller said.

So far, the province has administered more than 450,000 doses of vaccine. Most doses are ending up in people’s arms.

Miller said the SHA does track wasted doses, which total 249 or 0.06 per cent of doses administered.

He said there are various reasons for why doses get wasted.

“It can be particles in the vial … a defective product, expired products, dropped vials (or) breaks in the cold chain,” Miller said.

“The teams, they treat the vaccine as a precious resource so they’re very, very rigid in making sure that we don’t waste anything.”