One hundred per cent per cent of long-term care homes across Saskatchewan have now received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with 91 per cent of residents choosing to receive the vaccine. Fifty-three per cent of facilities have received both their first and second dose. Nine per cent of long-term care home residents were not immunized due to a variety of circumstances, such as the availability of residents at the time of vaccination, refusal to take the vaccine or a change in health status.
Ninety per cent of personal care homes (PCHs) have now received their first doses, and 43 per cent have received both their first and second doses.
This achievement comes less than two months after the first long-term care home resident in Saskatchewan received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Ensuring seniors living in long-term and personal care homes are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is a priority for the Government of Saskatchewan,” Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors and Rural and Remote Health Minister Everett Hindley said. “As the supply of vaccine hopefully continues to expand in the coming weeks, we will be able to quickly expand our vaccination efforts for seniors living independently, as well as our other priority groups. We look forward to the day when all Saskatchewan's seniors are fully vaccinated against the threat of COVID-19.”
Since the pandemic began a year ago, there have been over 40 outbreaks declared at long-term and personal care homes in Saskatchewan, resulting in over 100 deaths.
Vaccine Delivery
There were 618 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on March 1 in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 80,236.
The 618 doses were administered in the Far North West (27), Far North Central (11), Far North East (11), Northwest (6), North Central (44), Saskatoon (425), Central East (88) and Southeast (6) zones. Data has been updated to include an additional 329 doses administered in the Central East (120) and Southeast (209) zones on Feb. 26 and 27.
Daily COVID-19 Statistics
There are 134 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on March 2, bringing the provincial total to 28,938 cases. There were no new COVID cases and no active cases in the Weyburn area, with active cases now down to 17 as of March 2.
Two Saskatchewan residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. The deaths were reported in the 80+ age group from the North Central (1) and Saskatoon (1) zones.
The new cases are located in the Far North West (22), Far North East (12), Northwest (12), North Central (5), Northeast (2), Saskatoon (28), Central East (8), Regina (38), South Central (3) and Southeast (3) zones. One case is pending residence information, and four cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North West (1), Northwest (2) and Saskatoon (1) zones. Three Saskatchewan residents who tested positive out of province have been added to the Northwest (2) and North Central (1) zones.
There are a total of 27,059 recoveries, including 194 new recoveries as of March 2, and 1,492 cases are considered active.
There are 154) people in hospital, and 134 people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (4), Far North East (2), Northwest (11), North Central (12), Northeast (2), Saskatoon (53), Central West (1), Central East (7), Regina (36), South Central (2) and Southeast (4). Twenty people are in intensive care: North West (1), Saskatoon (12) and Regina (7).
There were 2,175 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on March 1, with 60 tests in the southeast region.
To date, 580,241 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of Feb. 28, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan's per capita rate was 488,181 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 645,844 tests performed per million population.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 144 (11.8 new cases per 100,000). 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.
Assess Your Risk and Get Tested
The Government of Saskatchewan continues to recommend against all non-essential travel. International travellers must abide by federal testing and quarantine measures. If you choose to travel inter-provincially, get tested as soon as you return to Saskatchewan and plan for a follow up test seven days later.
The presence of new variants across Canada means an elevated risk of bringing more transmissible strains of COVID-19 home with you. While you cannot test your way out of travel risks, testing is the best tool available to protect your family, friends and all residents of Saskatchewan against COVID-19 if you have travelled.
You do not need to be experiencing symptoms in order to have COVID-19. 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 quickly 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.
