Daily COVID update Dec. 9: 5 deaths, 302 new cases, 253 recoveries

Five residents of the Regina area who had tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

In a media release Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said all five were in the 80-and-over age group.

Their place of residence wasn’t provided, but 11 deaths have been reported at the Parkside Extendicare care home during a recent outbreak.

The death toll due to COVID in Saskatchewan now stands at 71.

Of that number, 38 have been reported since Nov. 22. That includes 25 people aged 80 and over, six people in their 60s, six people in their 70s and one in their 30s.

The provincial government also reported 302 new cases Wednesday, increasing the provincial total to date to 10,899.

The new cases were located in Regina (131), Saskatoon (59), north-central (35), northwest (26), far northeast (15), far northwest (14), southeast (five), central-west (four), southwest (four), south-central (three), central-east (two), far north-central (one) and northeast (one) zones.

The hometowns of two new cases are under investigation.

The seven-day average of new cases is 273, or 22.6 cases per 100,000 population.

“It’s still remaining high,” Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said during a media conference. “It’s not going much higher quickly, which is what we feared, but it’s also not coming down. It’s staying between that 250 and 300 mark.

“Our test positivity rate is also staying at that 8.5 per cent mark and trending up slightly. Because hospitalizations and ICU admissions lag two to three weeks behind cases, they are still trending up.

“There’s some hope for optimism that we may be plateauing, but obviously there’s some concern that hospitalizations and ICU admissions are trending up.”

There were 140 people in Saskatchewan hospitals as of Wednesday, down four from Tuesday’s report.

The total Wednesday included 27 people in intensive care, with 10 in Saskatoon, nine in Regina, six in the north-central zone and one in each of the southwest and south-central areas.

The 113 people receiving inpatient care were spread between hospitals in the Saskatoon (50), Regina (23), north-central (17), southeast (13), northwest (five), northeast (two), central-east (one), southwest (one) and south-central (one) areas.

There were 253 recoveries reported Wednesday, increasing that total so far to 6,121.

Of the 4,707 cases that are considered active, 1,408 are in the Saskatoon area, 1,164 are in the Regina region, 597 are in the north-central area and 376 are in the northwest.

“Note that active cases are over-represented,” the government said in its release. “There will be an adjustment in the coming days, as recovered cases are reconciled.”

Alberta introduced stricter measures Tuesday, prompting some to wonder if Saskatchewan also will add more restrictions before the Christmas holidays.

The last time the province instituted more measures was Nov. 27.

“We’re obviously monitoring the interventions we have put in place and their impact and the interventions other provinces have put in place and their impact,” Shahab said. “Any intervention takes at least two to three weeks to start having an impact.

“On a positive note, we are not having 500 (or) 600 cases a day. We’re (between) 250 and 300, which really speaks to the efforts all people in Saskatchewan are doing to minimize transmission. I think that’s having an impact.”

Shahab added that if numbers don’t start trending down and if transmission over the Christmas holidays results in a January rebound, the province may have to look at further restrictions.

“Hopefully we can manage with what we have currently, but we will have to make some decisions next week on that,” he said.

A look at the numbers

The number of health-care workers who have contracted the virus rose to 359, an increase of 103 this month alone.

To date, there have been 3,816 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 2,867 from ages 40 to 59, 2,296 involving people 19 and under, 1,459 between the ages of 60 and 79, and 456 in the 80-and-over range. The ages of five cases are being confirmed.

There have been 3,260 cases from the Saskatoon area, 2,254 in the north zone, 2,177 in the Regina region, 1,324 in the south zone, 1,138 in the far north, and 714 from the central area. The hometowns of 32 cases are pending.

The 2,650 tests processed in the province on Tuesday increased the total to date to 372,405.