(The Canadian Press)

By paNOW Staff

COVID-19

Province amends indoor gathering and worship sizes

Mar 9, 2021 | 3:04 PM

As of March 9, the Government of Saskatchewan will be allowing households to expand their ‘bubbles’ with changes to indoor gathering and worship service restrictions.

With Saskatchewan generally experiencing a declining trend in confirmed cases and hospitalizations, the public health order is being amended to ensure residents who continue to observe all public health measures can extend their household ‘bubbles’.

But Dr. Saqib Shahab says that doesn’t mean they should.

Shahab says increasing bubble size will allow people to better support individuals and family members in need.

“I think for most of us we should not change anything and if anything we should pay more attention because of variants of concern.”

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Effective Tuesday, March 9, individual households may create a ‘bubble’ up to a maximum of ten individuals in a home at any one time.

• The ten individuals should be from two to three consistent households. The total number in the gathering cannot be more than ten.
• You must be consistent in your household bubble: the bubble of ten is always the same individuals, from the same households. You may not join multiple bubbles.
• Assess the overall risk of COVID-19 before joining households. Does this household have a senior at elevated risk? Children attending school? Adults working outside of the home in essential workplaces? Can you still count all the potential contacts that household makes, in the event that a contact investigation must be done? If the risk of potential transmission remains high, consider another household or remaining within your household.
• If you are 50 years old or greater, consider keeping your contacts to your household only until you are able to be vaccinated.

You must still follow all public health guidelines when outside the home – including the limit of ten people at outdoor gatherings – and plan to be vaccinated when you are eligible. Details on the current public health measures are available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-measures.

SEIU responds to relaxed restrictions

On the heels of Premier Scott Moe’s announcement that public health restrictions will be relaxed, SEIU-West members and leaders, according to a media release are concerned that this decision is premature and guided by politics rather than science or the needs of our health care system.

“It’s too soon to let our guard down like this,” says Barb Cape, President of SEIU-West, in the media release. “The signs that the second wave is subsiding aren’t strong enough to justify relaxing restrictions. With the rise of the variants and lower testing numbers, we need to keep our public health restrictions in place for just a little longer to see if our efforts are really working.”

Effective March 19, Worship Services to Expand Safely

Starting March 19, Re-Open Saskatchewan guidelines for worship services will be permitted up to 30 per cent of capacity or 150 attendees, whichever is the lesser. All existing public health guidance remains in effect.

• Attendees must maintain two metres of physical distancing unless they are part of the same household group.
• All masking protocols remain in place. All attendees and choirs/performers must be masked throughout the service. Only clergy may remove their mask while officiating but must maintain three metres physical distance from all other attendees while mask is removed.
• No food or drink may be served.
• These guidelines do not apply to receptions or non-ceremonial gatherings.

Worship service guidelines are available at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/re-open-saskatchewan-plan/guidelines/places-of-worship-guidelines.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics

There are 113 new cases of COVID-19 and 160 recoveries to report in Saskatchewan on March 9, bringing the provincial total to 29,918 cases; 28,104 recoveries and 1,414 cases still considered active. This is the lowest number of active cases since November 11.

Government of Saskatchewan

One Saskatchewan resident who tested positive for COVID-19 has died. This death was reported in the 50-59 age group from the North West zone.

The new cases in northern Saskatchewan are located in the Far North West (four), Far North East (nine), North West (nine), North Central (four), and North East (one). Eight cases are pending residence information. Three cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North West (one), North Central (one) and Regina (one) zones. One case was found to be an out-of-province resident and removed from the counts.

One hundred and thirty-nine (139) people are in hospital. One hundred and fourtee (114) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (two), Far North East (one), North West (12), North Central (eight), North East (two), Saskatoon (44), Central East (three), Regina (39) and South East (three). Twenty-five people are in intensive care: North Central (two), Saskatoon (11), Central East (two) and Regina (10).

Government of Saskatchewan

There were 1,874 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on March 8.

To date, 597,743 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of March 7, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 503,275 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 665,069 tests performed per million population.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 141 (11.5 new cases per 100,000), the lowest seven-day average since November 13. A chart comparing today’s average to data collected over the past several months is available on the Government of Saskatchewan website. Please visit https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.

Further statistics on the total number of cases among healthcare workers, breakdowns of total cases by source of infection, age, sex and region, total tests to date and the per capita testing rate can be found on the Government of Saskatchewan website. Please visit https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/cases-and-risk-of-covid-19-in-saskatchewan.

NITHA Data

As of March 8, there are 129 active cases of COVID-19 in NITHA communities. These cases are located in the Far North Central, Athabasca (five), Far North West (18), Far North East (103), North Central (0), and North East (three). There are 3081 cases (95%) that have recovered, and four people are currently in hospital.

The latest COVID-19 data in the northern communities. (NITHA/Facebook)

Vaccines Reported

An additional 736 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 93,512.

The 736 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported today were administered in the following regions: North West (479), North Central (165) and Saskatoon (92).

Government of Saskatchewan

For a listing of first and second doses in Saskatchewan administered by geographic zone, visit https://www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-update.

Saskatchewan’s first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine (15,500 doses) arrived earlier today. Administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to commence in the coming days at a drive-thru location in Regina for eligible groups including individuals between the ages of 60-64 and priority health care workers.

The Pfizer vaccine shipment for the week of March 8 is now arriving in Saskatchewan. Shipments for the Saskatoon (3,510 doses) and Regina (3,510 doses) areas are expected to be delivered March 9. Shipments for the North Battleford (4,680 doses), Yorkton (1,170 doses) and Prince Albert (1,170 doses) areas are expected March 10.

COVID-19 map. (Submitted photo/Saskatchewan Health Authority)

RRPL Completes Initial Variant Survey

The Roy Romanow Provincial Lab (RRPL) has completed their survey of 190 positive COVID-19 cases and have found 35 cases are variants of the virus and are present in Saskatchewan.

The initial survey of positive COVID-19 cases of individuals that initially tested positive during the period of January 26 to February 27. Sequencing of positive cases for the initial survey began on March 1 when RRPL began in-province whole genome sequencing and were reported to the Ministry of Health on March 8.

The confirmation of 44 variant of concern cases present over the span of two months is an indication that variants of concern, particularly B.1.1.7 initially detected in the UK, are present in Saskatchewan and community transmission has been occurring over the last two months. This also indicates that while variant transmission has been occurring over the last two months, Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 data, including active cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths, have continued to decline. Saskatchewan will continue to monitor for variants through targeted and randomized surveys of positive COVID-19 cases.

Below is a detailed breakdown of the variants confirmed during the RRPL’s initial two-month variant survey of positive COVID-19 cases:

Note that, as public health investigations proceed, variant of concern case locations may change due as residence locations are confirmed.

The best protection against all COVID-19 variants remains the same as protection against COVID-19: stay home, physically distance, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask and get tested if you are experiencing even mild symptoms.

Find testing options near you at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/testing-information.

Enforcing Public Health Measures

Enforcement of public health orders is permitted under The Public Health Act, 1994. Public health inspectors will be supported in their efforts to ticket violators to ensure that businesses and events are brought into compliance as quickly as possible, in addition to the enforcement efforts that have been undertaken by police agencies throughout the province.

For more information on the current public health measures or to see the Public Health Order, visit www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-measures.

General COVID-19 Information

General public inquiries may be directed to COVID19@health.gov.sk.ca.

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panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow