Dr. Saqib Shahab. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM file photo)

By Libby Giesbrecht/ CJME News

Saskatchewan’s top doctor recommends no gatherings in coming weeks

Jan 6, 2022 | 6:23 PM

Saskatchewan has not put in any further COVID-19 health measures, but Dr. Saqib Shahab was emphatic in his recommendation Thursday.

“We need … to do everything to blunt the wave,” the province’s chief medical health officer told reporters during the government’s second COVID briefing in two days. “This is not the time for any gatherings at all.”

His recommendation came the same day the province recorded its highest number of cases in a single day, with 913.

Shahab added he doesn’t think people should meet anyone outside their household in an indoor setting for the next two to four weeks while the province grapples with growing cases of the Omicron variant.

The variant accounts for more than 95 per cent of cases in the province currently, Shahab said.

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“Do what is essential, which means going to work (and) going to school,” he said.

Limiting contacts is one of three ways Saskatchewan residents can help limit the spread of Omicron, according to Shahab.

The other ways are wearing “your best mask” at all times and anyone at or over the age of 18 getting their COVID-19 booster as soon as they are eligible.

With Omicron anywhere from five to eight times more transmissible than other COVID variants, Shahab urged Saskatchewan residents to do all they can to limit their contacts and keep Omicron at bay.

New hospitalization reporting to show ‘incidental’ COVID cases

The province also shared that more is coming on new COVID numbers that will be reported.

Derek Miller of the Saskatchewan Health Authority said the new reporting will differentiate patients who are hospitalized for COVID specifically from those who come in with an unrelated illness or injury and then subsequently test positive for COVID at the hospital.

“The change in reporting is really to introduce an additional way to look at what the COVID demand on our facilities is,” Miller said, “(and) really to understand the number of patients showing up that would be there anyways.”

The province reported it is not seeing significant increases in hospitalizations despite the surge of Omicron cases in Saskatchewan.

The first of those numbers showed 39 of the 88 inpatient hospitalizations reported Thursday to be incidental and asymptomatic COVID patients, while there were 42 COVID-related patients. The status of seven patients had not yet been determined.

Of the 12 patients in intensive care units in Saskatchewan, only one was reported to be incidental asymptomatic.