`Cannot continue on this same path,' says province amid 283 new cases
Another Saskatchewan resident with COVID-19 has died.
The province reported its 55th death related to the virus along with 283 new cases on Friday.
The deceased was a resident of the southern part of the province, aged 80 years or older.
The province also reported 183 recoveries. A record 4,116 people are considered to be actively infected.
Saskatchewan reported 6,119 new cases of COVID-19 between Nov. 4 and Dec. 4, a staggering increase that has put strain on hospitals, public health and the medical system. As of Friday, 126 people were in hospital, 25 of them in intensive care.
The regions reporting the most cases were Regina (83), Saskatoon (50) and the north central region (47).
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark and other municipal leaders urged businesses, groups and individuals to do everything in their power to stop the spread of the virus.
That's after a stern warning from provincial health officials who have said the province could see as many as 562 new infections in a single day by mid-december if the curve continues going up.
The Saskatoon zone, which includes the city as well as nearby communities like Warman, Martensville and Allan, reported 1,324 active cases of COVID-19 on Friday, compared to 261 on Nov. 4.
“We cannot continue on this same path,” a provincial news release stated.
The seven-day daily rolling average of new infections is at 262, or 21.7 people for every 100,000 Saskatchewan residents, a slight decrease from previous days but still more than double the threshold of 120 that chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said would be desired before restrictions are relaxed.
Shahab said Wednesday that there were signs the public health measures that came into effect on Nov. 19 were starting to bear fruit.
“Instead of seeing 400, 500 cases a day we are seeing 250 on average a day, so that's a positive note,” he said, but added that 250 was still too high of a plateau.
“Our daily case numbers are sort of the speed that we're going. And the change in our daily case numbers is our acceleration,” said Dr. Kyle Anderson, a U of S assistant professor in biochemistry, microbiology and immunology. Acceleration is slowing, but the car is still going way too fast, he said.
“If you were going five kilometres an hour and you put the emergency brake on, you'd stop. But if you're going 100 kilometres an hour, you'll slow down, but you'll burn the brake out. It's not designed to do that.”
Shahab said the next week will be “critical” as the province watches to see if its latest set of public health measures, which came into effect on Nov. 27, had the desired impact.
“Two hundred and fifty cases a day for too much time still puts too much pressure on the acute care and hospital system,” Shahab said.