Birch Hills residents who attended April 10 party must self isolate, SHA says
Saskatchewan reported 221 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths Friday.
One of the deaths was in a 60-year-old from the north west zone, while the other was a 40-year-old from the province’s south east.
Eight of the new cases reported Friday were in north central, which includes Prince Albert. Regina led the new case count with 57, followed by South Central, South East and Saskatoon zones with 25 each.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 264, or 21.6 per 100,000 population.
There were 225 recoveries Friday.
Saskatchewan processed 3,739 tests Thursday.
There are currently 190 people in the hospital, including 44 in intensive care. Thirty of those ICU patients are in Regina. North Central has seven inpatients with COVID-19 and one intensive care patient.
The number of cases involving variants of concern continues to rise. As of Thursday, 4,326 have been identified by screening. Of those, 49 were in the North Central. The majority (2,731) were in Regina.
The province also reported 277 new variant lineage results Friday. All but one were the B.1.1.1.7 (UK) variant, while one was the B.1.351 South African variant.
Indoor private gatherings remain capped at one household. Outdoor gatherings may have up to ten people so long as everyone is socially distanced.
Saskatchewan administered 8,168 doses of the vaccine Thursday, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 323,573. Of the doses, 463 were distributed in north central.
The vaccine booking system is now open to people aged 48 or older.
Vaccine drive-thrus are also open in some parts of the province. Only residents aged 48-54 can attend those drive-thrus. Anyone older or younger will be turned away.
The Prince Albert drive-thru is located at 1 Pine Street off of Highway 2 North. It’s open this weekend from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Non-SHA frontline clinical care workers eligible for the vaccine include frontline staff in private officers who provide patient care, staff in private imaging clinics, community labs and at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency.
They will receive a letter of eligibility in the coming days to register for their vaccination. This can be done through the phone booking system only.
Vaccine appointments can be made by visiting Saskatchewan.ca/COVID19 or calling 1-833-SaskVax.
Birch Hills partygoers need to isolate, SHA says
The Saskatchewan Health Authority is alerting anyone who attended parties on Birch Drive in Birch Hills on April 10 to go for a COVID-19 test immediately and isolate until April 24 at midnight, regardless of their test results.
If you develop symptoms after your test, go get re-tested immediately, the SHA said.
