Saskatchewan reports 465 new COVID cases, 22 more deaths

A sixth person under the age of 19 was among the Saskatchewan residents who died of COVID-19 in the province’s latest reporting period.

The Ministry of Health’s weekly update Thursday reported the deaths of 22 people — 14 that occurred during the week of May 8 to Saturday, and eight that happened between Dec. 17 and May 6.

The update didn’t include any more details about the young person who died.

Of the other fatalities reported Thursday, 12 were in the 80-and-over age group, six were in their 70s and three were in their 60s.

Seven of the deaths were reported in the Saskatoon region, with five in the north-central zone, three in the southeast area, two in the central-east area, and one in each of the northwest, northeast, central-west, Regina and southwest zones.

As of Saturday, 1,364 Saskatchewan residents had died due to COVID.

A look at the numbers

Other key indicators dropped during the week.

As of Saturday, there were 465 new cases detected by laboratory testing, down from 710 the previous week. The latest total is the lowest since the government moved to weekly reporting in early February.

The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (123), Regina (104), central-east (49), northwest (40), southeast (37), north-central (18), northeast (18), central-west (11), southwest (11), south-central (11), far northeast (nine), far northwest (four) and far north-central (one) zones.

The hometowns of 29 cases were pending.

The total didn’t include cases detected through rapid antigen tests.

The positivity rate in lab tests was 6.5 per cent.

There were 270 people with COVID in Saskatchewan hospitals, 51 fewer than the previous week. The number of cases in intensive care also dropped, from 16 to 14.

Of the total, 97 people were admitted to hospital with COVID-related illnesses, 164 had incidental infections and nine were being investigated.

There were 265 new lineage results reported during the week, all of which were the Omicron variant.

There were 11 confirmed COVID outbreaks in long-term care (eight) and care home (three) settings during the week in the province.

Vaccination update

As of Saturday, 81 per cent of people aged five and up in the province had completed a series of two COVID vaccinations.

Of those 18 and up in the province, 52.3 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.

The government said 16,317 booster doses had been delivered during the week, including 14,302 fourth shots.

Paxlovid prescriptions

As of Thursday, 170 select pharmacies in the province as well as selected doctors and nurse practitioners have prescribing authority for the Paxlovid antiviral treatment. It requires three pills to be taken every 12 hours for five days.

Not all physicians will be prescribing and not all pharmacies will be prescribing and dispensing Paxlovid. A list of participating pharmacies and eligibility criteria is available here.

Residents will be screened by their participating pharmacist, physician, nurse practitioner or through HealthLine 811 to see if they’re eligible to receive Paxlovid.

The pill is available to everyone over the age of 18 who meet the following conditions:

• Test positive (PCR or rapid test) with mild or moderate COVID-19 symptoms;
• Do not have any medical conditions that would make treatment inappropriate;
• Are not taking any medications that may cause potential drug interactions; and
• Are immunocompromised, regardless of vaccination status.

It’s also available to those who are 70 years and older with designated risk factors, regardless of vaccination status or meet one of the following criteria:

• Have a medical condition that puts you at high risk and are not fully vaccinated; or
• Are 55 to 69 years old and not fully vaccinated.

Treatment with Paxlovid must start within five days of symptom onset.

Saskatchewan also provides Remdesivir as an option. It’s an intravenous treatment of at least 60 minutes for three straight days that must start within seven days of symptom onset.

Eligibility for Remdesivir can be determined by calling HealthLine 811.