Neck guard sales jump after Sask. hockey player slashed by skate
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More adult players are now investing in the protective equipment.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Saskatchewan hospitals has dropped to its lowest mark of 2021.
In its daily update, the Ministry of Health said there were 138 people in hospital in the province — the lowest that number has been since there were 125 patients on Dec. 23.
The province also reported 207 new cases, 125 more recoveries and two new deaths.
A person in their 60s from the Regina area and an individual in the 80-and-over age group from the Saskatoon zone are the latest fatalities. To date, 393 people have died due to COVID in Saskatchewan.
Meanwhile, Health Canada approved the Johnson and Johnson vaccine on Friday and Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman is eager to see some of the 10 million doses Canada has on order make their way to the province.
“We’ve been planning to do over 10,000 vaccines a day, and we will certainly hit those capacities,” Merriman said Friday on Gormley. “Any vaccines that we can get into people’s arms the quickest is going to get us back to hopefully a normal society where we can start opening things back up and get back to normal.
“This is another arrow in our quiver, so to speak, to be able to get more vaccines out.”
Merriman added that with the expectation of more vaccines coming in, there is a possibility the vaccination process could get expedited sooner compared to the original date.
There currently isn’t a timeline on when the Johnson and Johnson one-shot vaccine will be made available in Saskatchewan.
A look at the numbers
The new cases reported Friday — along with the addition of five individuals who tested positive outside of the province — increased Saskatchewan’s total caseload to date to 29,432.
The latest cases were in the Saskatoon (45), Regina (43), far northwest (23), northwest (20), central-east (18), far northeast (13), north-central (13), northeast (eight), south-central (five), southeast (five), far north-central (two) and southwest (two) zones.
The hometowns of 10 cases are being investigated.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 155, or 12.7 per 100,000 population.
There have been 27,532 recoveries so far and 1,507 cases currently are considered active.
The hospitalizations include 20 in intensive care units — nine in the Saskatoon area, eight in the Regina region, two in the north-central zone and one in the central-east area.
The 3,289 COVID tests done in Saskatchewan on Thursday increased the total to date to 589,109.
Vaccination update
There were 2,789 COVID vaccinations done in Saskatchewan on Thursday, moving the total so far to 86,879.
The latest doses were administered in the Regina (1,163), Saskatoon (850), northwest (544), central-east (120), north-central (60), southeast (30) and far north-central (22) zones.
A shipment of 15,500 doses of the newly approved AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to arrive in the province late next week and will be distributed among Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Yorkton.
Those shots are to be given to priority health-care workers under the age of 65 and some residents between the ages of 60 and 64. Those people will be able to book their appointments the week of March 15, with vaccinations to start the week of March 22.
A shipment of the Moderna vaccine that was expected in the province next week now is not slated to arrive until the week of March 15.