Sask. reports record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations for 3rd straight day; 4 children hospitalized

COVID-19 debated at the Legislature WATCH: On day two of Spring Session at the Saskatchewan Legislature COVID-19 was again front and centre. Allison Bamford explains.

REGINA — Saskatchewan broke its record for COVID-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, marking the third straight day the province has done so.

The government said there are 262 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including four children under the age of 11. There are 54 patients in the ICU in the Saskatoon (24); Regina (nine); North Central (eight); South Central (four); South West (four); Central East (three); and North West (two) zones.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions have increased threefold in the past month. There were 89 COVID-19 patients in hospital on Aug. 21, 15 of whom were in the ICU.

Of the 262 COVID-19 patients currently in hospital, the government said 74 per cent are not fully vaccinated.

CASE DATA & VACCINATIONS

The Saskatchewan government reported 372 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday and five additional deaths.

Two of the people who died were from the South West zone, the remaining three were from the North Central, Central East and Far North West zones. One person was in the 20-39 age group, two were in the 50-79 age group and two were above the age of 80.

The new cases were confirmed in the Far North West (nine), Far North Central (three), Far North East (41), North West (42), North Central (46), North East (11), Saskatoon (50), Central West (13), Central East (17), Regina (49), South West (14), South Central (14) and South East (18) zones. The location of forty-five new cases is pending residence information.

Of the 372 new cases, 314 are in people who are not fully vaccinated; 115 are in residents under the age of 20; and 75 are in the under-11 age category, which in not eligible for the vaccine.

The province said a recent review of case data shows that 98 per cent of children age six-19 who were diagnosed with COVID-19 live in unimmunized of partially immunized households.

The new cases pushed the province’s seven-day rolling average down slightly to 474.

There are 4,700 active cases in Saskatchewan, which is just shy of the province’s all-time high of 4,763 set on Dec. 7, 2020.

The province has confirmed 10,517 new cases in the last 30 days – accounting for 20 per cent of the 62,989 total cases seen in Saskatchewan since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to the government, health-care workers administered 840 additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine since the last update; half were first doses and half were second doses. To date, 719,393 people in Saskatchewan have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.