Hospitalizations up by two in North Central COVID cases

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Hospitalizations up by two in North Central COVID cases

Two more people are in hospital after contracting COVID-19 in the North Central zone, the Sask. Health Authority reported on Oct. 12.

There are now 26 people in the hospital and five in the ICU in the zone. Nearby, hospitalizations in the North East have increased to 12 while the North West has 34 people being treated as inpatients and three in the ICU.

Provincially, 268 people are in the hospital with 80 people receiving intensive care.

Of the two deaths, one was in Saskatoon and the other was in Regina, which means 753 people have now died in the province.

For new cases, North Central 1 had seven new reported cases for a total of 161 active infections.

Prince Albert (North Central 2) saw 11 new cases and now has 124 active infections.

North Central 3 had 12 new infections for 91 active cases. A total of 30 were added in the last 24 hours.

The North East zone has 130 active infections, with most in either the Melfort (58) or Nipawin (53) areas. Tisdale and area has 19 active infections.

The North West had 35 new cases and has 37 people in the hospital.

Vaccinations dropped over the long weekend with 63 doses administered in the North Central zone and 26 of those being second doses.

There are now 51,181 fully vaccinated people in North Central, 26,122 in the North East and 46,318 in the North West zone.

Provincial highlights:

As of October 12, there are 271 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 72,730 reported cases.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (9), Far North East (19), North West (35), North Central (30), North East (9), Saskatoon (81), Central West (2), Central East (25), Regina (35), South West (3), South Central (4) and South East (3) zones and 16 new cases have pending residence information.

9 cases with pending residence information were reassigned to North West (from September 25 (1), September 29 (1), October 1 (1)), Saskatoon (from October 10 (1)), Central East (from October 10 (1)), and Regina (from October 5 (1), October 9 (2), October 10 (1)) zones.

One (1) SK resident tested positive out-of-province was added to the Saskatoon zone on October 7, 2021.

-72,730 cases are confirmed

-17,745 cases are from the North area (7,810 North West, 7,294 North Central, 2,641 North East)

-17,547 cases are from the Saskatoon area

-14,427 cases are from the Regina area

-8,791 cases are from the South area (1,989 South West, 2,701 South Central, 4,101 South East)

-8,688 cases are from the Far North area (4,077 Far North West, 541 Far North Central, 4,070 Far North East)

-4,896 cases are from the Central area (1,321 Central West, 3,575 Central East)

-636 cases have pending residence information

-4,450 cases are considered active and 67,527 cases are considered recovered.

Nearly one quarter (24.4%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39 as well as 24.4% of new cases are in the 0-11 age category.

One in five (20.5%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were fully vaccinated.

As of October 12th, a total of 348 individuals are hospitalized; including 268 inpatient hospitalizations, and 80 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 348 patients, 261 (75%) were not fully vaccinated.

Two (2) new deaths reported today. 753 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 1.0%

1,177,743 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 7, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 983,085 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 1,162,631 tests performed per million population.

The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 487 (40.4 new cases per 100,000).

36 arrests over Thanksgiving weekend

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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36 arrests over Thanksgiving weekend

Police arrested 36 people over the Thanksgiving long-weekend and responded to 428 calls for service.

On Monday, Oct. 11, Prince Albert Police Service officers responded to a call in the 200 Block of 15th Street West.

A woman in a vehicle was in possession of bear mace. Police located the vehicle in the area around 10th Street and 3rd Street East just after 2:30 a.m. Upon further investigation, police also located a sawed-off rifle and ammunition.

A 25-year-old woman from Prince Albert was charged with two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon (knife, bear spray) in relation to this file.

A 24-year-old man from Prince Albert is facing numerous firearms-related charges, including possession of a loaded firearm and possession of the proceeds of crime.

In another incident, four people were charged with firearms offences following a traffic stop Saturday morning.

Police stopped the vehicle at approximately 3 a.m. in the area around 24 Street and Second Avenue West. Upon further investigation, police located several loaded firearms, a replica firearm, a knife, and ammunition.

A 22-year-old man from Prince Albert, a 23-year-old woman from Prince Albert, a 27-year-old man from Nipawin, and a 31-year-old woman from Pakwaw Lake are charged in relation to this file.  

Police were also called to a local business around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday for a report of a woman attempting to steal several items and threatening staff with scissors. The woman had reportedly assaulted one of the staff members.

A 26-year-old Prince Albert woman is facing charges of assault with a weapon, assault and breach of court order in connection with this incident.

Interactive art is not necessarily about preservation

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Interactive art is not necessarily about preservation

People touring the Mann Art gallery this weekend will have noticed a common theme about some of the pieces, they were being painted over, pulled apart or cut up with a chain saw. 

While public tours of the vault – a place where art works are carefully preserved, stored and catalogued – were available inside the building, on the outside Metis artists were busy destroying the creations they had made, deciding which paper bison they should keep and which should be consigned to a sacred fire. 

It was all part of the focal weekend of Culture Days from the galleries perspective. 

“This is kind of our big weekend day at the Mann Art Gallery,” said Lana Wilson, gallery educator on Saturday, Oct. 9. “This is the last day to see the Leah Dorian and Ashley Smith outdoor art installations,” said Wilson.

Dorian has taken on the role of mentor to Smith and 2021 marked the second year of the Inter-Generational Metis Artist Mentorship Project, a project she started with a different mentee, Danielle Castle. 

“The goal of this is for Leah to be able to pass on different aspects of Metis culture,” explained Wilson. 

While both mentees brought their own perspectives to the project, Dorian as teacher was passing on skills such as designing and planning a project. 

“It involves Metis materials, skills, teachings and world views. They learned how to plan the project and do art installations,” Wilson said, “and, in these cases, using quite humble but accessible materials.”

An exhibit outside the door of the gallery showed colourfully painted cardboard bison being chased by cardboard horses over the cliff – in this case, a two inch high curb. 

Another next to the provincial court house involved a willow woven meditation walkway decorated with orange ribbon tied on it and is dedicated to the survivors of residential schools.  

“We think that a cross symbol – even a symbol that was widely embraced in the fur trade era by many cultures – placed beside a courthouse, we feel that’s a good site for a reconciliation piece,” explained Wilson. “So many people have interacted with it in a wonderful way.”

Inside the gallery, children or adults could pick a canvas painted by an artist who used to live in Prince Albert and choose to either keep it as is, add to it or paint right over it. 

The idea was to educate people on what artists do with their finished pieces. Some sell it, some donate it or sell it to gallery collections. Others are prolific and just want their work out in the world. 

The artist lives in a city for a few years, paints something every day and then divests it before moving to another city. 

The artist suggested having other’s paint over his pieces.

“We can think of it as a collaboration,” Wilson said. “If they want, they can completely paint totally over his art and make it their own.” This is a technique used when an artist wants to add texture to their work. 

Upcoming in this week for Culture Days activities in Prince Albert are a South Asian cooking class on Tuesday, Oct. 12 and a chance to try pottery on Thursday. 

More details can be found a culturedays.ca and by going to Saskatchewan in the Regions pulldown menu. 

RM will continue to pursue good working relationship with City, reeve says

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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RM will continue to pursue good working relationship with City, reeve says

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Despite the fact the City of Prince Albert turned down a request by the RM of Prince Albert to annex a part of 48th Street to widen and pave it, the RM is looking forward to a future relationship.

“We’re obviously disappointed that the City didn’t agree with our proposal,” Reeve Eric Schmalz said. “But, we look forward to pursuing other relationships with the City as far as infrastructure goes.”

City council rejected the RM proposal by a 6-3 margin at their Sept. 27 meeting.

The province does have a process in place for municipalities that want to pursue a boundary re-alignment with another municipality that is not in agreement, but the RM has not decided yet what it will do.

“We’re still considering our options going forward on the project,” said Schmalz. “We haven’t made our mind up how we’re going to go forward from here.”

The RM wanted to own the entire street so they could upgrade the road and divert traffic away from a very busy intersection, he said.

Coun. Don Cody of the City of Prince Albert publicly questioned the RM’s intent when it came to the area, saying that he suspected the other municipality wanted to develop it and lure businesses away from the City.

Schmalz denied that had anything to do with the proposal.

“That area is not developed and there are no plans to develop it,” he said. “The reason why we’re doing this is to alleviate stress and congestion on the intersection of 48th Street and Highway 2.”

In the summer it is one of the busiest intersections in the area, according to Schmalz.

“Rather than petition the provincial government to put a set of traffic lights at the corner, we thought we would attempt through this process to have traffic diverted over to Highway 3 in what is really a very dangerous intersection,” he said.

ICU personal support limited as hospitalizations rise

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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ICU personal support limited as hospitalizations rise

Family and support people of those in ICU are now limited to two people, with only one allowed in the room at a time.

The province announced the changes on Oct. 11 as the amount of people in ICU has reached record highs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Monday, 347 people are in hospital after contracting COVID-19 with 79 in ICU beds.

The changes apply to all ICUs across the province and to cardiac care units in Saskatoon and Regina.

There is no change to end of life family presence which allows two designated people at a time in the ICU or elsewhere.

North Central 1 leads COVID growth in region

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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North Central 1 leads COVID growth in region

North Central 1 has taken over the region in terms of new and active cases of COVID-19.

The sub-district of the North Central zone has 180 active cases with 19 added in the last 24 -hours.

North Central 1 includes, Albertville, Big River, Birch Hills, Blaine Lake, Candle Lake, Canwood, Chitek Lake, Christopher Lake, Debden, Leask, Marcelin, Meath Park, Paddockwood, Parkside, Pebble Baye, Shellbrook, Timber Bay, Waskesiu and Weirdale.

In North Central 2, which is the City of Prince Albert, there are now 123 active cases, with 14 added in the last 24 hours.

North Central 3, which includes Alvena, Cudworth, Duck Lake, Hague, Hepburn, Laird, Rosthern, St. Louis, Wakawm Wakaw Lake and Waldheim, had six new cases which gives them 83 active infections.

The 39 new cases in the last day mean North Central now has 386 active infections and 29 people are in the hospital.

No new deaths were recorded leaving the total at 78.

New doses of vaccine dropped with 246 additional shots given out, a reduction of 145.

Of the 246 new doses, 130 were second doses meaning 51,155 people in the zone are now fully vaccinated.

Elsewhere in the north, new cases were reported in North East (10), North West (57), the Far North West (13) and the Far North East (13).

The entire province had 425 new confirmed cases with Saskatoon having 115, Central West (12), Central East (35), Regina (49), South West (21), South Central (12) and South East (40) zones and nine new cases have pending residence information

Also, nine cases with pending residence information were reassigned to Far North West (from October 9 (1)), Far North East (from October 9 (1)), North West (from October 9 (1)), North Central (from October 9 (2)), Saskatoon (from October 9 (1)), Central East (from October 9 (1)), Regina (from October 9 (1)), South East (from October 6 (1)) zones.

So far since the start of the pandemic, 72,458 cases have been confirmed, and of those, 17,668 cases are from the North area (7,772 North West, 7,264 North Central, 2,632 North East), 17,464 cases are from the Saskatoon area and 14,388 cases are from the Regina area.

-8,781 cases are from the South area (1,986 South West, 2,697 South Central, 4,098 South East)

-8,660 cases are from the Far North area (4,068 Far North West, 541 Far North Central, 4,051 Far North East)

-4,868 cases are from the Central area (1,319 Central West, 3,549 Central East)

-629 cases have pending residence information

-4,658 cases are considered active and 67,049 cases are considered recovered

Nearly one third (31.8 per cent) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39 while about one in six (17.9 per cent) of new cases in those aged 12 years and older were fully vaccinated.

As of October 11, a total of 347 individuals are hospitalized; including 268 inpatient hospitalizations, and 79 ICU hospitalizations.

Of the 347 patients, 260 (74.7 per cent) were not fully vaccinated

Four new deaths were reported; one in the Central East, two in Saskatoon and one in Regina.

 751 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 1.0 per cent.  

1,175,318 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 7, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 983,085 tests performed per million. The national rate was 1,162,631 tests performed per million.

The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 483 (40.1 new cases per 100,000).

History, guns and toys fill tables at Antique & Gun show

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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History, guns and toys fill tables at Antique & Gun show

A lot things were old and collectable and many were guns, but there was a lot more than that at the Antique and Gun Show at the Prince Albert Wildlife Federation this weekend.

With a room full of vendors and no shortage of lookers and buyers, organizers were pleased with the turnout Saturday morning.

Cathy Applegren is one of two organizers for the event and said no one was sure what attendance would be like with new rules regarding COVID-19 vaccines or proof of a negative test.

“So far the crowd is better than expected,” said Applegren. “Everybody has to have double-vaccine and show proof of vaccination so we weren’t show how it would go.”

The antique shows have been going on for a while, but this year they decided to shake it up and add some interest geared at getting gun lovers more involved.

“We’ve done antique shows for about seven years but this year we thought we would add some guns to it because the antique collectors and the gun collectors go together,” Applegren said. “It’s a good mix and we’ve got a good mix of guns and antiques.”

One highlight at the show is for children; a 1959 Thistle, Canadian-made, chain-driven pedal car in original condition.

“They just don’t survive like that,” said Applegren of the Thistle and finding a Canadian-built car is also hard to do. “We look all over and we happened to see an ad and we went and looked and we actually ran home about a dozen. But the Thistle is an exceptional piece. It’s Canadian made, it’s chain driven and it’s original.”

She also had a Murray Flat Face pedal car from but it had been restored, reducing its value by about $200. The Thistle had a price tag of $850 and the Murray was $650 because of the restoration.

The turle on the right hand side is spitoon from the 1800s. If a person steps on the turtle’s head, the shell opens up to take in a shot of tobacco juice. It, and many other things, were for sale at Robin Gryobrick’s table.

Robin Gyobrick, of Prince Albert, had a display table full of unique items, but unusual is not unusual in such an event as almost all vendors are collectors.

“BB Guns, tin toys, cars trucks, video games. You name it, it’s on the table,” she said. “It’s all toys, probably from the 50s and 60s. We’ve travelled to the States and picked them up there. That’s probably the main place we get our things there.”

Auction sales and other shows are also a good place to find things, such as a brass, turtle shaped spittoon from the 1800s.

The person with the tobacco juice to spit can step on the turtles head and the back opens to collect the spit.

“They spit their leftovers in there. Very nasty,” Gyobrick said of the spittoon.

Pretty much everything is for sale.

“For us this is the first show we’ve done since COVID, and we’ve sold a few things so far so not too bad,” she said of the response, but that was early Saturday morning and there was still the rest of Oct. 9 and all of Oct. 10 to go.

“We weren’t really sure what would happen. People were phoning and asking what the restrictions were before we opened the door.”

Greg Illerbrun of Swift Current, collects and sells older guns “Because I watched westerns when I was a kid,” he said. “John Wayne is still the best as far as I’m concerned.”

Greg Illerbrun, of Swift Current, has a table full of guns, but the 1905 single shot Winchester he is holding is one of his favourites.

“Mostly I’ve got older actions and mostly lever actions and mostly Winchesters. Most go back to the late 1800s or 1900s,” Illerbrun said. “We find them at gun shows, the States and auction sales.”

He also has some Remington single shots and Sharps but one of his favourites is a single shot Winchester model year 1885 but made around 1905.

Illerbrun has a good reason for becoming a vendor over just an enthusiast.

“You need to be on the inside to get the first shot at the good stuff,” he said, “and then you’ve got to figure out how to pay your way.”

A lot of time is spent wheeling and dealing with other people just like him and there is a circuit that vendors travel in normal years.

This year again, many have been cancelled because organizers don’t want to deal with unruly patrons having to meet the vaccine or negative test requirements.

30 people in hospital, 377 active cases in North Central

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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30 people in hospital, 377 active cases in North Central

On Saturday, Oct. 9, 30 people remained in hospital after contracting COVID-19 and 377 cases were active in the region.

There were 29 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours, a reduction of five from the previous day.

Of the new and active cases, a large proportion were in North Central 1, which had 164 active cases and 13 of those in the last day.

North Central 2 was at 133 active case and similarly had 13 added in the last day while North Central 3 sat at 80 active cases and three of those added in the previous 24 hours.

So for, the zone has had 7,152 cases and 6,697 people are considered recovered.

Yesterday, 319 tests were performed and 523 new doses of vaccine were administered, with 222 of those second doses.

So far, 50,826 residents are fully vaccinated.

The death count remains at 78 and of the people in the hospital, four are in intensive care.

Provincially, five new deaths were reported with three in the Northwest zone, one in the Central East zone and one in Regina.

Provincially, there were 502 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 71,526 reported cases

The new cases are located in the Far North West (22), Far North East (22), North West (63), North East (14), Saskatoon (124), Central West (7), Central East (38), Regina (81), South West (27), South Central (9) and South East (47) zones and nineteen new cases have pending residence information

-26 cases with pending residence information were reassigned to Far North West (from September 29 (1), October 7 (4)), North West (from October 6 (1), October 7 (5)), North Central (from October 1 (1), October 6 (1), October 7 (5)), Saskatoon (from October 7 (1)), Regina (from September 29 (1), October 5 (1)), and South East (from October 7 (5)) zones

-Ten (10) cases were removed; six (6) were deemed to be non-SK residents and removed from Far North West (from July 5 (1), July 13 (1)), Far North East (from September 26 (1)), Regina (from September 13 (1)), 2 pending location (from May 26 (1), June 10 (1)); one (1) repeated case was removed from Far North West (from April 28 (1)); three (3) cases with no reason identified were removed from Far North East (from September 27 (1), October 3 (1)), Saskatoon (from October 7 (1))

71,526 cases are confirmed

-17,406 cases are from the North area (7,649 North West, 7,152 North Central, 2,605 North East)

-17,234 cases are from the Saskatoon area

-14,273 cases are from the Regina area

-8,656 cases are from the South area (1,949 South West, 2,676 South Central, 4,031 South East)

-8,572 cases are from the Far North area (4,036 Far North West, 540 Far North Central, 3,996 Far North East)

-4,765 cases are from the Central area (1,304 Central West, 3,461 Central East)

-620 cases have pending residence information

-4,798 cases are considered active and 65,982 cases are considered recovered

-More than one fourth (26.5 per cent) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39

-More than one in five (21.0 per cent) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were fully vaccinated

-As of October 8, a total of 332 individuals are hospitalized; including 254 inpatient hospitalizations, and 78 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 332 patients, 253 (76.2 per cent) were not fully vaccinated

– 746 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 1.0 per cent

1,168,478 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.

As of October 7, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 983,085 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 1,162,631 tests performed per million population.

The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 464 (38.5 new cases per 100,000).

Council to discuss vaccine policy

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Council to discuss vaccine policy

At least one group has already filed an objection to the City’s proposed proof of vaccination policy to be discussed on Tuesday.

Mike Huxley, who said in an email to the City that he wants to be heard at the Oct. 12 special council meeting, represents the CUPE Local 160.

In his points outlined in the email, Huxley said the policy does not promote cooperation and understanding between the city and its employees and that it is a change of job description and should be negotiated as such.

“This policy does not promote cooperation and understanding between the city and its employees. As well as it does not promote morale, well-being and security of all employees,” said Huxley.

He further stated that Article 21.01  of the collective agreement says that “When the city adds additional duties or tasks or that change the qualifications shall be reviewed and negotiated with the union.”

A final point in the email is that the agreement specifies that the City will provide all safety devices which might be reasonably required, which mean the City should pay for all tests required in place of a vaccine.

Provincial rules already restrict access to many City facilities to those who are fully vaccinated or have provided a negative COVID test.

The City has planned the policy for a while and will not be taking input from the general public as it is not seeking direction on how it should be written, said Mayor Greg Dionne recently.

“It’s a no win. You’ve got the fors and the against. The only good thing about the fors, I believe the majority rules. I’m a proud Canadian and the majority of us have gotten vaccinated,” he said. “So the people that don’t want to vaccinate, you can kick and scream all you want, but I do believe that the majority of the population has the right to be protected.”

“It’s pretty obvious when you listen to all the medical experts, vaccination, masking, wash your hands, stay six feet apart. It’s been working for 18 months. Unfortunately we took a pause and now we’re trying to catch up.”

Included in the agenda is information on provincial guidelines for employers that want to create their own vaccination policy.

The regulations, which apply to all provincially-regulated employers with the exception of Crown employees who already have a provincial policy to follow, are not required by the province.

If approved, members of the public aged 12 and older will have to show proof of full vaccination (reached two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines) or a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours.

The policy would come into effect on October 13.

“We are dealing with some of the highest levels of Covid-19 infection and spread since the start of the pandemic,” said Dionne. “Vaccines are safe and proven effective at preventing the spread of Covid-19 to others. This reports considers measures that will make us all safer.”

This policy as proposed will apply to City owned facilities including:

    City Hall

    Art Hauser Centre

    Alfred Jenkins Field House

    Arts Centre

    EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts

    Frank J Dunn Pool

    Kinsmen Arena

    Steuart Arena

    Margo Fournier Centre

    Fire Hall

    City Yards

    Landfill Kiosk

    Municipal Service Centre

    Water Treatment Plant

    Waste Water Treatment Plant

    Community Clubs

    Library

    Museums

    Tourism

    Knotty Pine Bistro

    Police Buildings

    Summer Games Building

    Children’s Choice Daycare/Small World Day Care

Patrons under the age of 12 years are not required to produce any documentation or results.

All other patrons:

    Patrons under 18 that are entering the facility are required to produce proof of vaccination or test result. They are not required to produce ID.

    All patrons 18 years or older are required to produce proof of vaccination or test result as well as identification.

One of the following must be presented before entry:

Vaccination record

  – Documentation with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine at least 14 days PRIOR to entry.

  – Ministry of Health Wallet Cards, Copies of MySask Health Records or scan of QR codes will be accepted.

PCR/Antigen Test

Paper proof of a privately paid negative PCR or antigen test will also be accepted in lieu of proof of vaccination. SHA test results or photos are NOT acceptable.

City employees reporting for work will be required to present proof of being fully vaccinated or a negative Covid-19 test by October 25, 2021.

The special council meeting is set for 4:30 on Oct. 12 and are generally aired on the City’s YouTube channel as well.

No new deaths, fewer new cases of COVID in North Central

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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No new deaths, fewer new cases of COVID in North Central

There were 34 new cases of COVID-19 in the North Central in the last 24 hours and no new deaths.

Deaths remain at 78 and the amount of new cases dropped by 19 compared to the previous day’s growth.

So far, 7,116 people have been confirmed to have had the virus and 6,660 have recovered.

There are 33 people in the hospital as of Oct. 8 with three in the ICU.

On Oct. 8, North Central had 378 active cases, which is a reduction of 12, 162 tests were performed and 577 doses of vaccine were given out.

Another 260 people became fully vaccinated.  

In the North East, eight people are in hospital, there are 149 active infections and there have been 28 deaths.

The North West continues to see high case numbers with 696 active infections, 31 people receiving inpatient care and two in ICU. So far, 96 residents of the zone have died after contracting COVID – 19.

Provincially, four more deaths were reported, bringing to 741 the total number of deaths.

As of October 8, there are 576 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 71,034 reported cases.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (31), Far North Central (1), Far North East (21), North West (102), North Central (34), North East (15), Saskatoon (146), Central West (3), Central East (43), Regina (58), South West (34), South Central (14) and South East (35) zones, and thirty-nine (39) new cases have pending residence information.

-13 cases with pending residence information were reassigned to Far North West (from October 3 (1)), Far North East (from October 1 (1)), North West (from September 18 (1), September 19 (1), October 6 (1)), North Central (from October 6 (2)), Saskatoon (from October 3 (1), October 6 (1)), Regina (from October 2 (1), October 6 (1)), and South East (from October 6 (2)) zones.

-One (1) SK resident tested positive out-of-province was added to the Saskatoon zone on October 5, 2021.

-71,034 cases are confirmed:

-17,287 cases are from the North area (7,580 North West, 7,116 North Central, 2,591 North East)

-17,110 cases are from the Saskatoon area

-14,191 cases are from the Regina area

-8,568 cases are from the South area (1,922 South West, 2,667 South Central, 3,979 South East)

-8,529 cases are from the Far North area (4,012 Far North West, 540 Far North Central, 3,977 Far North East)

-4,720 cases are from the Central area (1,297 Central West, 3,423 Central East)

-629 cases have pending residence information

-4,692 cases are considered active and 65,601 cases are considered recovered.

-More than one-fourth (29.9%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39.

-Nearly one in five (19.6%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were -fully vaccinated.

-As of October 8th, a total of 343 individuals are hospitalized, including 272 inpatient hospitalizations and 71 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 343 patients, 261 (76%) were not fully vaccinated.

-Four (4) new deaths reported today. 741 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died, with a case fatality rate of 1.0%.

1,163,661 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 6, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 979,885 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 1,159,521 tests performed per million population.

-The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 461 (38.2 new cases per 100,000).

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