SHA declares COVID-19 outbreak after family gatherings in Saskatoon

A contact tracing investigation involving more than 60 people has led to the declaration of a community outbreak of COVID-19 in Saskatoon.

Dr. Johnmark Opondo, a medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), made the declaration Wednesday.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, said during a conference call with reporters the investigation involves cases linked to one or more family get-togethers that exceeded public health guidelines concerning the maximum size of gatherings.

“In this outbreak investigation that’s currently ongoing, one person has tested positive and there’s one additional case who was presumptive positive,” Shahab said.

“While all indications at this point indicate that the situation is contained — that it was a closed, private event and that all close contacts are isolating at home — as multiple households were involved, a public service announcement may be issued if thought appropriate by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.”

In a media release, the SHA said the cases were reported between last Thursday and Tuesday of this week. An outbreak was declared because “it involves multiple different households with transmission linked to a large gathering.”

The SHA noted there haven’t been any hospitalizations as a result of the events.

Shahab revealed the outbreak had been declared before noting there were three new cases in Saskatchewan as of Wednesday, including two in Regina.

The number of cases in the Queen City has been alternating between zero and one for the last few weeks of May, so Wednesday’s news prompted Shahab to offer a reminder.

“These two events — the fact that there’s two cases in Regina and now an outbreak in Saskatoon — again is a reminder for us that even as we engage in the reopening of Saskatchewan, even as we look forward on June 8 onwards to our indoor gathering size increasing to 15 and our outdoor gathering size going up to 30, we still need to consider very carefully who we are inviting,” Shahab said.

“Is there another way of connecting with people either virtually or by another means? And if we do choose to have any gathering of whatever size, are people who are attending vulnerable? What can we do to minimize the risk of transmission?”

The province has stressed measures such as hand-washing and physical distancing to limit the spread and also set maximum sizes for gatherings.

Those limits remain in place until Phase 3 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, which is to start June 8. Even as larger groups are permitted, Shahab said caution still must be exercised.

“What this underscores is that we cannot go back to business as usual, even though summer is beckoning, even though we see more traffic on the road and (we) see more people outside in our green spaces enjoying the outdoors, which is very good,” he said.

“We still have to be very cautious that we still need to minimize transmission risk where we can — and we already know that getting together around food is a high risk.”