Here are some highlights from the latest COVID-19 news conference in Regina attended by Minister of Health Paul Merriman and chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab.
Perhaps the biggest news was what was not announced Wednesday. There were no new restrictions imposed by the province at this news conference, unlike previous news conferences over the last several weeks.
Instead, the focus of this latest news conference was the latest modeling numbers as well as vaccine deployment.
鈥淲e still have a long way to go in this marathon,鈥� said Merriman. 鈥淏ut even marathons have a finish line, and now we know where that finish line is. That finish line is when we have delivered a safe, effective vaccine to a significant number of Saskatchewan residents.鈥�
Merriman said Saskatchewan health and the SHA have done a lot of work to deliver the vaccine, and will have a more detailed presentation on that plan next week.
For now, Merriman said, 鈥渨e in Saskatchewan are ready to go.鈥� As soon as the federal government is able to start delivering the vaccine, they would be ready to deliver it to Saskatchewan people quickly and safely.
Merriman added that Premier Moe and himself have directed all necessary resources be directed to this effort. Based on the advice of public health officials they will be prioritizing who receives the vaccine first, and said it should be no surprise that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care homes would receive the first vaccines.
Merriman added that federal government is now stating the first deliveries should be early in the new year. Saskatchewan鈥檚 per capita share is 180,000 doses, enough to vaccinate 90,000 people.
Until then, Merriman urged people to continue physical distancing, wear masks, and stay home if not feeling well.
Dr Shahab鈥檚 presentation gave an update on the modelling of COVID-19 cases. Among those highlights are as follows:
Dr. Shahab said at this point it was 鈥渉ard to say if any other restrictions can be relaxed.鈥� He said they would have to monitor closely over the next two weeks and bring back the epidemiology and modelling at that time.
He spoke of the coming holidays and noted the difference from Thanksgiving, when case numbers were around 50 a day and the gathering limit was at 15 people.
鈥淩ight now our case numbers are much much higher,鈥� said Dr. Shahab. 鈥淓ven if they go down substantially, I think we need to be cautious over the holidays.鈥�
As for the modelling numbers, Saskatchewan remains the third highest in terms of active cases per 100,000 and also third highest for new cases per 100,000, and their trajectory was still going up. He urged people be very careful and said it was 鈥渃ritical鈥� to follow the latest guidelines imposed on Nov. 27.
Dr. Shahab later noted that the latest guidelines, particularly on sporting events, were having an impact with the numbers. He said he could present the impact of the Nov. 27 measures in a week or two.
Dr. Shahab also noted COVID-19 transmission is happening throughout the province and is not localized in any one part of the province. Rates in terms of hospitalization and deaths 鈥渞eally impact all age groups,鈥� said Dr. Shahab, but he said it picks up for hospitalizations at 40 and older.
Active case numbers remained high for Nov. 24-30 at 21.8 per 100,000 and the test positive rate was at 7.6. Dr. Shahab noted these were important indicators that they wanted to see trend down.
As for modelling projections, Dr. Shahab noted that if we continue without further measures, if everyone complied with the orders daily case numbers could be brought down in December to below 400.
"We still need to hold the course," said Dr. Shahab -- otherwise the case numbers can rise in January, he said. He maintained the need for caution and also noted they could not announce any relaxation of restrictions for the holidays. Dr. Shahab added that even if they were to bring in a relaxation of measures in December it would "have to be a cautious relaxation" because you would see the impact of that two or three weeks down the road.
