Latest COVID update May 24: Re-Opening Roadmap step 2 set for June 20, active cases continue to drop

It is official: the second phase of Saskatchewan’s Re-Opening Roadmap begins on June 20.

The province hit the vaccination threshold of 70 per cent of people aged 30 or older Monday.

That means that the second step is cleared to begin three weeks after the first, which is scheduled to begin May 30.

The announcement means that on June 20, the following restrictions will ease up:

• A maximum of 15 people at private indoor gatherings, including household gatherings
• A maximum of 150 people at private outdoor gatherings.
• Retail and personal care services will have no capacity thresholds, but they must maintain an occupancy that allows for physical distancing.
• Restaurants and bars — no table capacity thresholds, but they must maintain two metres of physical distancing or structural barriers between tables.
• Event facilities, casinos, bingo halls, theatres, art galleries, libraries and recreational facilities – can have 150 people maximum. Physical distancing must be maintained and will determine the occupancy of the building. Those venues that serve food must follow restaurant guidelines.
• Youth and adult sports will have all restrictions lifted.

However, some things will stay the same.

• Primary, secondary and post-secondary education and childcare facilities must continue with current protocols.
• Gyms and fitness facilities must continue with current protocols.
• Dance floors and buffets are not allowed.
• Public outdoor gatherings remain at a maximum of 150 people.
• Mask-wearing continues.

In the province’s daily COVID update, Premier Scott Moe weighed in on the scheduled changes.

“The reason we are able to do this, to lift these restrictions, is because Saskatchewan people are getting vaccinated… The vaccines are working.  Vaccines are driving down case numbers and hospitalizations and making Saskatchewan safer,” reads Moe’s statement.

The news comes on the same day that 6,466 vaccines were administered in the province, raising the total so far to 662,854.

Those new doses were given in the Saskatoon (2,778), Regina (1,177), northwest (649), north-central (391), southeast (444), northeast (138), south-central (77), central-west (69), southwest (56), far northwest (28) and far north-central (eight) regions. They aren’t yet sure of the hometowns for 163 doses.

Seventy-six per cent of people aged 40 or older have their first shot, while that number is 70 per cent for those 30 and older. For everybody 18 and up, it’s 63 per cent.

The age of eligibility to receive a second dose has also dropped. As of Monday, anyone 80 or older, or anyone who got their first shot on or before March 1, can get another vaccine.

A look at the numbers

Active COVID cases continue to drop at a steady pace.

The Ministry of Health reported 103 new cases Monday, the lowest such number since there were 87 new cases on March 17.

Couple the relatively low new case count with 229 recoveries, and the active total drops to 1,537.

The seven-day average of daily new cases has dropped to 142, or 11.6 cases per 100,000 people.

The new cases are located in the Saskatoon (34), northwest (18), Regina (14), central-east (10), southeast (eight), south-central (four) and southwest (one) zones, with an additional three cases each in the far northwest, far northeast and north-central areas. Contact tracers are still investigation the location of three new cases, while two previously reported cases to the northwest area and one was added to the north-central.

There were no new deaths from the virus reported Monday.

However, nine more people across the province were admitted to hospital between Sunday and Monday.

There are now 133 people in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 28 in the ICU in the Regina (13), Saskatoon (10), northwest (two), north-central (two) and central-east (one) region.