There are 308 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on Nov. 14, bringing the provincial total to date to 4,820 cases. The new cases are located in the Far Northwest (26), Far North Central (8), Far Northeast (16), Northwest (23), North Central (30), Northeast (30), Saskatoon (123), Central West (7), Central East (7), Regina (20), Southwest (2), South Central (3) and Southeast (3) zones and 10 new cases have pending residence information.
Of the 4,820 reported cases, 1,691 are considered active. A total of 3,100 people have recovered, including 43 new recoveries as of Nov. 14.
Today’s high number of reported cases is due in part to the snowstorm early in the week, which resulted in fewer people going for testing, and some delays in getting samples from remote locations to the provincial labs. Although we expect to see higher and lower case numbers daily which will average out, there is an upward trend in positive case numbers.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) laboratories process large batches of COVID-19 tests. These large batches may be reported throughout the day, immediately before, or after the cut off time that is used when issuing public reporting numbers. When multiple large batches are reported immediately after the public reporting cut off time, it makes the day to day testing volumes and case numbers appear variable.
Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab is reminding residents of Saskatchewan to get back to the basics.
“Today’s record high case numbers are a reminder that the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan is higher now than it has ever been throughout Saskatchewan including urban, rural, Northern and First Nations areas and that we all need to redouble our efforts to protect ourselves and others,” Shahab said. “Wear a mask, limit your number of personal contacts, limit your number of visitors from outside your household, don’t leave home if you are feeling sick, and make sure you’re always physically distancing and washing your hands often. We all need to do our part to limit the spread.”
Fifty-seven people are in hospital. Forty-one people are receiving inpatient care; one in the Far Northwest, one in the Far Northeast, four in the Northwest, four in North Central, four in the Northeast, 22 in Saskatoon, one in Regina, one in the Southwest and three in Southeast zone. Sixteen people are in intensive care; one in the Northwest, three in North Central, eight in Saskatoon, two in Central East and two in Regina.
Of the 4,820 cases in the province, 405 cases are travelers; 2,152 are community contacts (including mass gatherings); 1,043 have no known exposures; 1,220 are under investigation by local public health, and 140 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
By age category, 1,002 cases involve people 19 years of age and under; 1,763 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 1,343 are in the 40-59 age range; 591 are in the 60-79 age range; and 121 are in the 80-plus range.
About 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.Twenty-nine deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
Of 4,820 confirmed cases, 1,360 cases are from the Saskatoon area; 1,031 cases are from the north area (332 northwest, 486 north central, 213 northeast); 703 cases are from the Regina area; 619 cases are from the south area (255 southwest, 259 south central, 105 southeast); 614 cases are from the far north area (479 far northwest, 31 far north central, 104 far northeast); 473 cases are from the central area (210 central west, 263 central east), and 20 cases have pending residence information.
To date, 294,737 COVID-19 tests have been processed Saskatchewan. As of Nov. 12, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 193,920 people tested per million population. The national rate was 272,114 people tested per million population.
A total of 3,665 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan on Nov. 13, the highest test count in a 24-hour reporting period to date.
Additional Public Health Measures
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health and Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab are implementing additional public health measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that will take effect Monday, Nov. 16. For more information, visit www.saskatchewan.ca/covid-19.
