Premier Scott Moe has voiced cautious optimism Monday on the latest numbers of COVID-19 in the province.
“Today’s case numbers continue to show that what we are doing in this province is working,” Moe said. “Together we are flattening the curve and reducing the spread of COVID-19.”
As of April 13, Saskatchewan has two new cases bringing the total to 300 in the province. In addition 14 more people have recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 178, or 60 percent of total cases.
Of the total reported cases, 118 cases are considered active, the lowest number of active cases since March 27, said Moe.
Right now eight people are in hospital who are all receiving inpatient care; no one is in intensive care.
The good numbers allowed Premier Moe to talk extensively at Monday’s press conference about the propect of reopening the province’s economy again.
“None of this is a reason for complacency, but it is a reason for cautious optimism,” said Moe.
“It means we can start to think about what the process of reopening Saskatchewan would look like. Let me be clear: there is no magic switch that we can flip that sends everything back to normal overnight. When we do begin to lift restrictions and reopen businesses and begin public venues it will be done cautiously, it will be done methodically and gradually. And businesses will be expected to maintain good physical distancing and good cleaning practises to keep their employees as well as their customers safe.
"We will be developing our Reopen Saskatchewan plan throughout this week in close consultation with Dr. (Saqib) Shahab. And I expect to release it sometime next week if our case numbers continue to hold steady as they are. As we begin to reopen, testing and contact tracing will become even more important.”
When asked by reporters on when restrictions might be relaxed, Moe said it would be done in close consultation with Dr. Shabab. But they would “need to see a constant for some period of time. We are starting to see that constant, but in saying that, we are one outbreak away from interrupting those numbers.”
In his repor,t Dr. Shahab noted that of the 300 cases, 131 are travel related, 120 are contacts or linked to mass gatherings, 27 have no known exposures; and 22 are under investigation by local public health.
33 cases are health care workers, however the source may not be related to health care in all instances.
“Any steps that can mitigate risk to themselves and to patients and residents is going to be very important in coming days,” said Dr. Shahab.
By region, 147 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 65 from Regina area, 56 from the north, 15 from the south, 10 from the central region and seven from the far north.
For ages, 21 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, 129 are in the 20-44 age range; 100 are 45-64; and 50 are in the 65-plus range.
The gender breakdown is 53 per cent males and 47 per cent females.
Four deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date including one on the weekend; there were no new deaths reported Monday.
To date, 19,804 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.
Premier Moe has set a target of having 1,500 tests performed a day by the end of April. He noted that in recent days a number of testing machines had been deployed across the province that can bring back results on location in under four hours without swabs being submitted to the Roy Romanow provincial lab. One such unit is up and running in Meadow Lake and another in Prince Albert Tuesday.
So far Saskatchewan has escaped any outbreaks of COVID-19 at any long term care facilities, something that has posed major problems in other provinces.
“We need to do everything possible to keep COVID-19 out of our long-term care facilities,” Moe said. In response Moe said the Saskatchewan Health Authority will be implementing more stringent policies including mandatory health care screenings and temperature checks.
In addition to the new numbers, a particular focus of the province Monday was price gouging. In a news release, Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority reminded businesses that grossly excessive pricing of products or services that takes advantage of consumers is not permitted.
“During this unprecedented time it is simply unacceptable to be price gouging,” Justice Minister and Attorney General Don Morgan said in a statement. “Businesses or individuals in Saskatchewan found price gouging will face stiff penalties and possibly jail time. It is essential that we look out for each other and this government will protect residents of Saskatchewan from exploitation when they are trying to protect their families.”
For more information on price gouging, the province is urging people to go to https://fcaa.gov.sk.ca/consumers-investors-pension-plan-members/consumers/consumers-of-goods-and-services/combatting-grossly-excessive-prices.
