Here are some of the highlights from Thursday鈥檚 COVID-19 news conference with Premier Scott Moe and Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer for Saskatchewan:
In his remarks Premier Moe noted that the numbers were moving in the right direction. The seven day average of new cases was down to 182 which was the lowest since January 3 and down about 43% from the peak on Jan. 12.
It is 鈥渟till higher than what any of us would like to see but it is trending in the correct direction.鈥�
The vaccine program was also moving in the correct direction, said Moe, although he acknowledged 鈥渋t was a little bit more slowly than we would like to see.鈥�
He noted the announcement of the next phase of the vaccine plan on Tuesday with the focus on the general population being prioritized on age.
Moe know that he had heard the concerns of the number of healthcare workers in the past few days that they were not part of phase two sequencing.
Many health care workers are included in Phase One. Moe said officials were now working on revisions that may be necessary to potentially include some additional categories of healthcare workers in Phase One.
Moe also noted that some other groups have come forward to advocate their inclusion, but said the reality is 鈥渨e are dealing with what is a very scarce supply of vaccines in Saskatchewan and across Canada.鈥�
He reiterated sequencing by age was 鈥渢he best way for them to vaccine as many people as possible and to do so as quickly as possible, and to do so in a way that reduces severe outcomes as much as we are able.鈥�
Moe pointed to numbers of 88 percent of Saskatchewan fatalities were for people over 60, which was why they were sequencing primarily by age.
Regarding doses expected, Moe said that the ministry of health was confirming a further reduction in Moderna vaccine doses to Canada. They were getting 168,000 doses in March, down about a third.
The federal government continues to say they will receive six million doses by the end of March which Moe says would mean 180,000 doses could be provided to Saskatchewan. By the middle of March they expect to be about 4,000 vaccinations per day, and up to 7,000 per day by the middle of April.
In his remarks, Dr. Shahab noted the declining trend 鈥渋s something we need to continue to see and we need to continue to stick to our best practises and not relax or measures right now, because we need to continue to see this declining trend over the next few weeks.鈥�
This was particularly important because of the strains of concern that have been detected in Canada pointing to the UK strain, the 麻豆视频 Africa strain and Brazilian strain.
The best protection against those strains, said Dr. Shahab, were all the public measures that were are now being practised including masks, physical distancing, staying home as much as possible, and staying home even with mild symptoms.
