Vigilance urged as active case counts fall in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer is warning people to stay vigilant against COVID-19 as case counts decline.

As of Thursday, Saskatchewan’s active case count was down to 2,158, the lowest mark in about a month. The seven-day average of daily new cases is now down to 216, or 17.6 per 100,000 people.

“We absolutely need to stay the course with public health measures and bring our case numbers down. Still, they’re too high for comfort,” Dr. Saqib Shahab told Gormley on Friday.

Shahab noted cases are rising in areas near Prince Albert and Lloydminster and in other areas of the northwest.

He also urged people to “redouble our efforts” to follow public health measures to keep numbers down because of the spread of COVID variants, which are more infectious.

Sixty-seven per cent of infections affect those 39 and younger, many of whom have still not been vaccinated, Shahab said.

As the province drops the age requirement for vaccines, Shahab said people need to follow the example of those in their 80s. For them, vaccine uptake is at 88 per cent.

“So all of us need to get inspired by them and bring our vaccine uptake higher,” he said.

“And that will impact hospitalization because once you’re in hospital, it takes a long time in some cases for you to leave ICU (and) leave acute care.”