Sask. chief medical health officer says COVID-19 spread still manageable despite 44 new cases Tuesday

Saskatchewan is reporting 44 new cases on COVID-19 on Tuesday. There have been 14 new recoveries.

There are now 18 people in hospital due to the virus. That is the second most since the beginning of the pandemic. There were 19 people in hospital on May 8. 

The hospitalizations include people from every age group 20 years old and older that the province tracks. 

The 44 new cases bring the total reported cases in Saskatchewan to 2,439 — 427 of which are considered active.

Two of the new cases are in the far north west, one is in the far north east, three are in the north west, five are in the north central, seven are in the north east, 20 are in the Saskatoon area, two are in the central east, three are in the Regina area and one is in the south central zone. 

New cases in Saskatoon continue to be primarily linked with outbreaks at local nightclubs, the province said. Public health investigations are underway to determine the source of transmission for all 44 new cases. 

Of the 18 people in hospital, 16 are receiving inpatient care — seven in Saskatoon, two in Regina, six in the north central zone and one in the central east zone. Two people are in intensive care, with one in Saskatoon and one in Regina.

Upward trend

On Monday the province reported 66 new COVID-19 cases. Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab says the average number of cases in the past week has been three cases per 100,000 people. He said the province has been mostly able to pinpoint where those cases stemmed from.

"We continue to see cases that are second and third generation from large gatherings. We have had notable superspreader events," Shahab said. 

Those events include the Full Gospel Outreach Centre outbreak in Prince Albert, and weddings and parties in both north and south regions of the province.

There were 60 cases in the first generation of the outreach centre outbreak. The case number is now up to 107, including secondary transmissions. COVID-19 cases linked to the event have been located in 17 communities throughout Saskatchewan and involve 450 contacts, according to Shahab.

"So you can see how one single transmission and can quickly snowball into a very large impact throughout the province," Shahab said.

"Not only does this put the public health at risk across a number of communities, but it requires a significant amount of health resources to conduct testing, contact tracing and provide acute care if people become seriously ill."

Shahab said there were also significant virus transmission events during Thanksgiving. 

"We have had reports of transmission where people unfortunately went while infectious to not one gathering, but several gatherings."

Several outbreaks have now also been declared at nightclubs. These account for dozens of cases, both at the primary transmission event and at secondary events. Shahab said the province is not considering further restrictions like early closing times and smaller gathering sizes at this time. 

"We should be able to go to a restaurant, but follow the guidelines to do it in a safe manner. We should be able to go and have a drink in a bar, but do it by following the guidelines, sitting at a table, have the drinks and not congregate to mingle. As long as we do that, I think there's a good chance that we can stabilize these increasing case rates," said Shahab. 

"We all need to work with each other, with our employers, employees and customers to encourage high levels of mask use."

Shahab said things are still manageable despite the rising case numbers.

"I don't want to say that we're losing control. I think we are seeing an upward trend and we are seeing that throughout the province. But I think we have shown that we are able to reverse that through our individual actions," Shahab said. 

"The actual numbers at which specific measures have been taken in other parts of the world or other parts of Canada have been much higher than 10 cases per 100,000."

Ten cases per 100,000 is a threshold Saskatchewan has not hit. 

"If we can understand where transmission is happening, a high case number is still manageable. But if we have cases where we can't find linkages to one another, then that becomes a greater concern."

Drive-thru testing expanded

The Regina drive-thru testing site is now open seven days a week:

• Regina - International Trade Centre at Evraz Place - Hall C, 1700 Elphinstone Street
  • Seven days a week – 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST.
• Saskatoon - 3630 Thatcher Avenue
  • Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - 12 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. CST.
  • Saturdays and Sundays - 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST.

Anyone who goes in for testing will need a valid Saskatchewan Health Card. 

Voting safely

All residents voting during the Saskatchewan provincial and municipal elections are required to abide by public health orders and safety measures Elections Saskatchewan has in place.

The province says a record number of residents have requested mail-ballots.

The province is also urging people to consider advance polls and wants voters to consider voting during the mid-morning or mid-afternoon on election day. That is when provincial and municipal polls are expected to have less traffic, according to the province.

CBC Saskatchewan wants to tell more stories about how the pandemic is touching the province's most vulnerable and marginalized populations. How has COVID-19 affected you? Share your story with our online questionnaire.