The outbreak in the far north continued to be a major concern of the province at their daily COVID-19 update on Wednesday in Regina.
Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical officer for Saskatchewan, reported 25 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, 24 of them in the North and 22 in La Loche. One was in the Saskatoon region.
The outbreak in the La Loche was very concerning, Dr. Shahab noted. He added when it comes to active cases, other than the far North and North, “things are pretty quiet in the rest of Saskatchewan which allows us to proceed with the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.”
Dr. Shahab added there will be a review of the situation in Lloydminster at the end of this week, and early next week. That outbreak seems to be contained, he said, but they expect ongoing cases that are close contacts from initial cases.
He also said they are now seeing an increase of cases in the 20-40 age range, mostly linked to the La Loche outbreak. Finally, he noted, they have been 1326 patients tested in the far North.
“Testing continues to be done at a high level,” said Dr. Shahab, who said testing is being done in the rest of the province as well.
Questions at the news conference included ones on COVID-19 tests. Premier Scott Moe was asked what his plan was to increase the number of tests, given that health officials hadn’t met his target of 1,500 tests by the end of April. Moe attributed that to less demand for the tests.
“Our numbers have dropped in most areas of the province,” said Moe. “Our numbers have been relatively quiet and we haven’t had the requests for tests, quite frankly. Which is a positive thing for the vast number of communities in Saskatchewan.”
In the northwest, Moe indicated they were increasing their testing numbers but focusing testing not only on those that had been in contact with someone with COVID-19, but beyond that to include drive-thru and surge testing going on as well.
“Our testing is starting to increase again from where it was a week or so ago,” said Moe. “If we are able to get that outbreak to a more manageable situation we may see our testing decrease again, but I don’t think that would be the expectation in the next few days.”
Moe also reiterated the goal was to “flatten the curve across this province and that includes the community of La Loche” and noted that was why 60 conservation officers were sent to support the checkpoints in northwest communities. He also pointed to the surge testing as well as 15 self-isolation trailers being deployed in La Loche.
Dr. Susan Shaw, SHA chief medical officer, told the news conference there had been a total of 727 tests done in the La Loche area.
Regarding the Meadow Lake Hospital outbreak, SHA CEO Scott Livingstone confirmed the case involved a single health care worker and that it was linked to community transmission. Additional staff had been tested and they had all come back negative, but they were retesting and all were self-quarantining.
As for the definition of “outbreak” with a single case at Meadow Lake Hospital, they are working to nail down exactly how they will define an “outbreak” or “cluster” and will be clarifying how they will be approaching that communication across the province so it is consistent.
