Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
Two more ICU patients Saskatchewan had sent to Ontario for treatment have died.
During a COVID-19 technical briefing Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency president Marlo Pritchard said five people who previously were transferred to Ontario for care have died.
Seven other ICU patients have been returned to Saskatchewan — including one since Monday’s report — while 15 more remain in Ontario.
Saskatchewan health authorities sent ICU patients east to ease the burden on this province’s health-care system caused by COVID.
The number of COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals rose by two from Monday’s update, to 193. The total of ICU admissions in the province’s health-care facilities remained static at 51.
The Ministry of Health also reported 86 new cases, 188 recoveries and one death.
A person in the 60-to-79 age group who lived in the far north-central zone is the 874th Saskatchewan resident to die of COVID in the province.
A look at the numbers
The 86 new cases were the fewest in a day since 85 were reported Aug. 16.
The latest cases were reported in the Saskatoon (20), central-east (18), southeast (11), Regina (nine), north-central (six), far northwest (five), south-central (three), far northeast (two), northeast (one) and northwest (one).
The hometowns of 10 cases are pending.
The cases comprised 60 people who weren’t vaccinated, 24 people who were fully vaccinated and two individuals who were partially vaccinated.
The unvaccinated group included 28 kids under the age of 11, the only group that currently isn’t eligible to be immunized.
The seven-day average of new cases fell to 12.1 per 100,000 people.
There were 1,666 tests reported, meaning the test positivity rate was 5.2.
To date, there have been 78,910 cases and 76,612 recoveries. The active caseload is the lowest it has been since Aug. 20, when it was 1,381.
Vaccination update
Saskatchewan reported 988 doses of COVID vaccine had been administered, with 637 of those second shots.
So far, 811,310 people in the province have received both shots and are considered fully vaccinated, and nearly 1.69 million shots overall have been given.
There also are 74,224 people who have received a third dose and 2,973 individuals who have got a fourth shot.
During the technical briefing, Dr. Saqib Shahab — Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer — said data from October showed that unvaccinated people were six times more likely to contract COVID, 12 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 28 times more likely to wind up in ICU than vaccinated individuals.
