An increase of 13 COVID-19 cases in the province on Thursday brings Saskatchewan’s total to 206.
The central region continues to linger at nine reported cases, one of which has recovered.
Thirty-eight of the total cases are in the north, which includes Prince Albert. That area has seen 13 recoveries so far.
In the far north, there’s been two recoveries within that area’s three confirmed cases.
Exactly half of Saskatchewan’s total cases are in the Saskatoon area.
Four people across the province are in hospital arising from COVID-19-related complications. Two are receiving inpatient care in Saskatoon and two are in intensive care, one in Saskatoon and one in Regina.
Ninety-six cases are the result of travelling, 44 from community contacts and 10 have have no known exposure. Fifty-six cases are still under investigation.
From Wednesday to Thursday, the province saw its largest spike so far in the number of tests processed within a 24-hour period at 867.
To date, the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory has processed a total of 11,395 tests. Moe said this is the second highest rate of testing per capita out of the country’s provinces, only behind Alberta.
When asked about disclosing the number of health care workers with COVID-19, Shahab said 11 health care providers and their families were exposed to the virus from a curling bonspiel from Mar. 11 to 14 in Edmonton.
“And then we are aware of at least six instances where individuals may have been working in a health care setting, but it’s not clear where the exposure was because in two cases they were not in direct patient contact so the exposure could have happened in a community setting or in a health care environment,” he said.
“We also are aware of four instances where care was being provided in a primary care setting, but that flag wasn’t brought up that someone had respiratory symptoms and appropriate PPE was not being used.”
Moe said he and Health Minister Jim Reiter have asked the Saskatchewan Health Authority to provide a COVID-19 briefing to media early next week.
He said this will include a model with updated projections of the spread of COVID-19 and the steps that the health system is taking to expand capacity for a potential spike in people requiring hospital care.
