Released on May 26, 2022
Your Booster Dose Matters
While the majority of residents who contract COVID-19 may experience cold- or flu-like symptoms and recover, there remains a percentage of residents who will become seriously ill and will require acute care. Using all best, preventative practices reduces your risk of contracting COVID-19.
- Get vaccinated , including your booster doses. The third dose is vital to protecting against serious illness and hospitalization and all residents 12 years and older are now eligible for a third dose four months after completing their primary series.
- Consider masking in all indoor, public places where you cannot maintain physical distance, regardless of your vaccination status.
- Stay home if experiencing even mild symptoms. Do not assume it's just a cold or seasonal allergies.
- Improve the ventilation in your home or workspace: open windows or doors regularly or consider a HEPA filter system.
- Pick up a rapid antigen test kit and test regularly whether you have symptoms or not.
Weekly COVID-19 Epi Report
Issued Thursdays, the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 integrated epidemiology (epi) report utilizes multiple data sources and includes laboratory-confirmed cases, deaths, tests, vaccination information provincially and by zones, as well as hospital and ICU census trends and distribution of rapid antigen tests. The epi report this week looks at data from Sunday, May 15 to Saturday, May 21, 2022. The hospitalization data is a comparison from May 19 to May 25, 2022.
The integrated epi report can be found online at saskatchewan.ca/COVID-19-cases.
Summary for the week of May 15-21, 2022
- 6,402 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 5.3 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was lower than the number of tests in the previous week (6,908).
- One in eighteen laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 5.5 per cent), which is a decrease from the previous week (6.5 per cent).
- 376 new cases were confirmed reflecting 0.3 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population, lower than the number of new cases in the previous week (465).
- The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (53.5 per cent).
- There were 344 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 344 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron.
- The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 87.8 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week, which was higher compared to the previous week. BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sub-lineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
- There were 12 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths, lower compared to the previous week (22).
- There were 16.5 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which was lower than the average weekly rate in the previous six weeks (36.9 per week/1,000 visits).
- Five (5) confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week, three of which were in Saskatoon.
- As of May 21, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.9 per cent received at least one dose of a two dose COVID-19 vaccine and 81 per cent completed a series.
- Among the population 18 years and older, 52.4 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
- As of the week of May 16, there have been 471 Paxlovid prescriptions.
- As of the week of May 9, 25 Remdesivir treatments have been provided. (Note: Today's update reconciles Remdesivir treatments from the week of April 18 through the week of May 9).
- More than 21 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.
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For more information, contact:
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083
Email: media@health.gov.sk.ca