There are seven (7) new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on Sept. 17. One case with pending residence information reported on Sept. 16 was removed (deemed to be a non-Sask. resident), bringing the total to 1,757 reported cases. The new cases are located in the Saskatoon (4), Southwest (1) and Southeast (2) zones.
None of the new cases in the Saskatoon area are linked to the social gathering initially reported in the provincial news release on Sept. 13. To date, there have been 21 cases linked to the gathering. Contact tracing efforts are underway, and it is likely that other cases will be identified before this chain of transmission is resolved.
Of the 1,757 reported cases, 109 are considered active. A total of 1,624 people have recovered, including four more recoveries as of Sept. 17.
Five people are in hospital receiving inpatient care in Saskatoon.
Investigations completed thus far have found that 29 of the 109 current active cases are from communal living settings.
Of the 1,757 cases in the province to date, 263 cases are travellers; 875 are community contacts (including mass gatherings); 520 have no known exposures; 99 are under investigation by local public health, and 69 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
By age category, 294 cases involve people 19 years of age and under; 574 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 538 are in the 40-59 age range; 293 are in the 60-79 age range; and 58 are in the 80-plus range.
About 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males. Twenty-four deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
There are 434 cases are from the south area (222 southwest, 197 south central, 15 southeast); 357 cases are from the far north area (349 far northwest, 0 far north central, 8 far northeast); 326 cases are from the Saskatoon area; 271 cases are from the north area (131 northwest, 73 north central, 67 northeast); 229 cases are from the central area (168 central west, 61 central east), and 140 cases are from the Regina area.
To date, 164,666 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of Sept. 15, when other provincial and national numbers are available from Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 116,815 people tested per million population. The national rate was 169,055 people tested per million population.
A total of 1,515 COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan on Sept. 16.
Weekly Reporting of Testing Numbers and Cases for Youth
Additional information about the trends of COVID-19 cases in school-aged children is now available. A new weekly report includes cases and testing numbers for children aged 0-19 with data by age categories and testing positivity rates.
Data is provided by 32 sub-zones to help the public more easily identify areas where virus activity may be more prevalent. Information is not specific to schools, but schools with a declared outbreak will be posted at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/latest-updates.
Information for the week of September 7-12 is posted at www.saskatchewan.ca/COVID19-Safe-Schools-Plan. Reports will be published Thursdays.
Gathering Sizes
In Saskatchewan and across the country, public health authorities are seeing increasing transmission rates as a result of public and private gatherings that are in contravention of public health orders and guidelines. Public health orders in Saskatchewan specify that indoor and outdoor gatherings may have a maximum of 30 people, provided there is enough space to maintain a two-metre separation between individuals who are not in the same household. Gathering sizes should be smaller if there isn’t enough space to maintain a physical distance of two metres at all times.
There can be very serious consequences for not following Public Health Orders limiting the size of private and public gatherings, including fines. Fines may be $2,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations, plus a victim surcharge.
A $2,000 fine has been issued to the organizer of a large social gathering in a private household in Saskatoon. This private gathering had approximately 47 people in attendance, contravening the gathering size limit of 30 people in the Public Health Order. This gathering has subsequently led to 21 identified cases of COVID-19 to date.
