One new case of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, provincial total at 779

Of the 779 cases in the province, 165 cases are travellers, 472 are community contacts (including mass gatherings), 103 have no known exposures and 39 are under investigation by local public health.

The latest numbers COVID-19 map. (Submitted photo/Government of Saskatchewan)

In Saskatchewan 55 cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.

In total, 324 of the cases are from the Far North, 186 are from the Saskatoon area, 114 from the North, 80 from the Regina area, 63 from the South and 12 from the Central region.

One hundred and thirteen cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults. As well as 268 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 247 are in the 40-59 age range, 130 are in the 60-79 age range and 21 are in the 80-plus range.

Fifty-one per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.

13 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

To date, 65,496 COVID‐19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan.

Testing for COVID-19 is available to anyone currently working outside the home or anyone returning to work as part of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.

Testing is also available to:

Those being admitted to acute care for more than 24 hours, including expectant mothers.
Immunocompromised individuals and their health care providers.

Shahab discusses Phase 4

Asked why Phase 4 has been split up like it has, Shahab said it’s in order to minimize outbreaks and hammer down guidelines.

“Whenever you open a certain sector, if not now, maybe in the future, you may see a case or a cluster,” he said. “That’s no (reason) to panic or say, ‘The whole sector needs to be rolled back.’

“We just need to understand the transmission dynamics and then either refine some of the guidelines or, if it’s a local outbreak, think about what steps need to be taken.”

Even though cases in the province have continued to rise over the past month, Shahab is still optimistic about moving forward with reopening the economy.

“Thankfully, while COVID activity has not gone away, it’s fairly quiet throughout Saskatchewan. As long as we follow the guidelines, we should do well,” he said.

Garage sales are still not allowed, and a date hasn’t been attached to them moving forward.

“That’s an area where a lot of people have an interest …,” Shahab said. “We wanted to get the formal sectors reopened first, because I think that’s really important from an economic activity point of view.

“We are developing some guidelines (for garage sales). I’m guessing it will be similar to everything else we have to do: Maintain your two-metre distance (and) wash your hands.

“I think we will get there, but we wanted to make sure we moved in a systematic way and get some of the other sectors open, continue to watch, and then look at garage sales.”

As for a possible date, he didn’t set anything concrete.

“I can’t promise anything right now … (For) us having some direction on that, maybe in a week or two at the most,” he said.

Government extends support for youth in care

The provincial government announced Monday it would again extend support services to youths in care whose transition to independence was affected by COVID-19.

Services that were to end Tuesday now will be extended to Jan. 5. Any young person who ages out of care will have more choice in their transition.

The original extension was announced March 31.

The government said the cost to extend the services into January is anticipated to be around $1.5 million.

– With files from 650 CKOM News

–

panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by paNOW Staff

One new case of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, provincial total at 779

Shahab discusses Phase 4

Government extends support for youth in care

What's Trending