10 new COVID cases, 9 more recoveries reported in Sask.

The Saskatchewan government reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday.

That means, in the past week, there have been nearly 100 new cases reported in the province. But the government’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said he wouldn’t call it a second wave.

“In many other parts of Canada there’s great concern, and in many parts of Europe there’s great concern, but I think at this point we are relatively at a lower level of our active case rate. Our test positive rate is low,” Shahab said during a media conference.

However, Shahab said we can’t be complacent and we have to watch the numbers closely. Shahab said as more people go back to work and the kids are back in schools, he expects to see higher numbers, so people need to remember to keep their contacts low and isolate when they should.

Premier Scott Moe said the province is doing fairly well, all things considered, and that’s because people have been following the public health guidelines. He said when people stop following them, that’s when you see numbers go up like they have been in recent days.

Moe said his government isn’t considering putting in additional measures to keep numbers down.

“We don’t feel that additional measures would be necessary as long as people continue to follow the public health orders that are in place,” said Moe.

“The challenges we have is when people step outside of that. And what we would have to consider or may have to consider at some point in time, if our numbers do start to rise because people continue to not adhere to the public health advice that is here, is additional enforcement measures.”

Moe was asked about online conspiracy theories which call the pandemic fake and call out people for wearing masks. Moe’s response was that it’s disappointing that anyone would stigmatize anyone else, for any reason.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not a farce. This is a virus that has spread across the world,” said Moe.

There were six cases reported in the Saskatoon area Tuesday, including two that are linked to the outbreak at a Brandt Industries workplace in the city.

“The latest confirmed cases are from testing completed on close contacts of the employees and are not occurring in the workplace itself,” the government said in a media release.

The release added there have been 19 cases connected to the Brandt Industries cluster to date.

Two of the other four new cases are in the Regina region, with one each in the far northeast and central-west zones.

The total number of cases reported in the province to date is 1,824.

There were nine recoveries reported Tuesday, increasing that total so far to 1,654. To date, 24 residents of the province have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

There are 146 active cases being reported.

Nine people are in hospital around the province. Eight people – seven in Saskatoon and one in Regina – are receiving inpatient care, while one person is in intensive care in Saskatoon.

Increased testing coming

With Moe’s stated goal of having 4,000 tests done per day, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has been increasing testing capacity.

To that end, it’s hiring for 76 positions; so far, 27 people have been hired.

The authority also is starting pooled testing, which means combining several specimens and doing one laboratory test to look for the virus.

“If any pooled test produces a positive result, all samples within the batch will be retested individually before results are released,” the government said in a release.

The pooled testing of asymptomatic swabs allows labs to test more specimens with fewer testing materials, thus increasing testing output.

As well, the SHA is increasing the number of GeneXpert tests being performed in the province. The number is going from 200 per week to 1,200 per week by early October.

“The GeneXpert is a molecular testing platform located in more than 20 locations throughout the province, providing more immediate diagnostics on-site,” the province said in its release. “It significantly expands testing capacity while improving turn-around times.”

A look at the numbers

Of the total number of cases in the province, 894 are community contacts, 528 don’t have any known exposures, 271 are travellers and 131 are being investigated by local public health officials.

There have been 69 cases involving health-care workers.

The total comprises 595 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 562 between the ages of 40 and 59, 306 involving people 19 and under, 300 from age 60 to 79, and 61 aged 80 and over.

There have been 439 cases from the south area (222 southwest, 199 south-central, 18 southeast), 359 in the Saskatoon area, 358 from the far north (349 far northwest, nine far north east), 271 in the north zone (131 northwest, 73 north-central, 67 northeast), 235 in the central area (173 central-west, 62 central-east) and 162 from the Regina region.

Saskatoon has recorded 54 cases over the past week, while Regina has reported 23 cases over the same time period.

The 1,641 tests done in Saskatchewan on Monday increased the province’s total to date to 175,405.