Saskatchewan reaches 2,000 COVID-19 deaths

The province has reached a grim milestone.

According to the latest Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program report from the Ministry of Health, Saskatchewan has recorded 2,000 COVID-19 deaths since March of 2020.

The report, which covered the period from June 18 through last Saturday, showed COVID-19 activity increasing from an average of 31 positive tests over the previous three weeks up to 44 in the week ending Saturday, with the percentage of positive tests rising from three per cent to 4.6 per cent in the most recent week.

The ministry also noted that four COVID outbreaks in high-risk settings have been reported over the past four reporting weeks.

Five COVID-19 deaths were included in the latest report, pushing Saskatchewan’s total number of fatalities up to 2,000. All were over 60 years of age.

But while the death toll has risen, most indicators tracked in the report remained positive.

“COVID-19 hospitalizations have decreased from 70 for the previous four weeks, to 59 for the most recent four weeks,” the report read. “COVID-19 ICU admissions have increased to a total of 10 in the current month, from five reported in the previous month.”

While COVID-19 patients are still being admitted to Saskatchewan hospitals and intensive care units, the strain on the health-care system is much lower than it was at the height of the pandemic. According to the report, COVID patients account for just 1.5 per cent of staffed hospital beds in the province.

The majority of COVID-19 cases (52.8 per cent) are in the 65-and-over age group, the ministry noted, while the remainder were found in the 20-to-64 age category.

“Throughout the province, COVID-19 wastewater viral load remained low,” the ministry wrote in the report. “The trajectory is decreasing in most province areas except for Yorkton, where (it’s) increasing. The trajectory in Regina (and) La Ronge remained stable.”

Other respiratory illnesses

The report showed 13 lab-confirmed influenza cases over the period from June 18 through Saturday, and no new cases of RSV.

“Influenza activity in Saskatchewan decreased gradually over the past four weeks, and has dipped below the inter-seasonal two per cent test positivity threshold,” the ministry wrote in its report.

“The most commonly detected organism in the sentinel provider program this week was Adenovirus.”