The curve continues to be flat in Saskatchewan with respect to COVID-19.
News that the province added only one new case of COVID-19 on Monday came as welcome news to chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab at a news conference Monday in Regina. He noted the reproductive rate for the virus has been below one for two weeks in a row.
“That’s very, very reassuring,” said Dr. Shahab. But “it still means we have to continue doing everything we have been doing.”
He urged people to continue what they have been doing in social distancing and staying at home. He added that as the weather improves people should “go out and enjoy the warm weather,” but to remember “as we are out and about, to maintain some of those key measures that have served us so well.”
Dr. Shahab suggested continuing to maintain a two-metre distance when greeting or chatting with neighbours. For children, he said it was very important to keep them away from group settings, and off of playground structures that have been taped off.
Overall there are 316 confirmed cases in the province. 74 are considered active. Four more people have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 238. 149 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 70 from the Regina area, 60 from the north, 15 from the south, 11 from the central and 11 from the far north.
In the question and answer session Dr. Shahab was asked about concerns that social distancing wasn’t being followed in grocery stores and that there were too many people in the stores.
“We all have a role in this,” Dr. Shahab said. He said grocery stores and a lot of businesses “have been doing a lot of work to try as well as they can to maintain physical distancing setups with tapes on the floor or other signals that you have to stand two metres apart in some cases.”
There was a question about the cases in the La Loche area, referring to the outbreak at the assisted living facility there. Dr. Shahab deferred details on that to a briefing set for tomorrow involving the Saskatchewan Health Authority. He did say that whenever there is an investigation involving one care provider and one residence, “the other staff are put under ongoing surveillance” to make sure they are screened and tested.
As for how long until restrictions can be lifted, Dr. Shahab emphasized “what we are doing today will have to continue even if there’s other activities or opportunities that permissible.”
The physical distancing will have to continue, he said. But “since we have been all so successful in doing that”, said Dr. Shahab, he added “I’m sure there will be some look at what other activities can be allowed that lets us enjoy summer, lets us participate in other economic activity, but still maintaining that physical distancing.”
“Until such time there’s an effective vaccine, or treatment, or until such time that most of us have some level of immunity, we’ll have to maintain physical distancing.”
As for what types of activities they were looking at starting to lift restrictions, Dr. Shahab said he would defer to Premier Scott Moe to announce those measures.
