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.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan intensive care units reached a record high for a third straight day, the number of active cases in the province fell to its lowest mark in more than a month.
The Ministry of Health on Monday said there are 85 COVID patients in ICUs in the province, breaking the previous record of 84 set Sunday. That latter number broke the record of 81 that was established Saturday.
While ICU admissions rose, the number of active cases continued to fall. There were 3,670 such cases reported Monday, the lowest that number has been since it was 3,588 on Sept. 11.
The province announced 279 new cases on Monday, along with 572 recoveries and four deaths.
The active caseload has dropped more than 15 per cent in the past month; there were 4,329 active cases on Sept. 18.
However, COVID-related deaths in the province have risen more than 23 per cent in the past month. The deaths reported Monday increased the total so far to 785, an increase of 147 since Sept. 18.
Saskatchewan has reported at least one death due to COVID for 44 straight days.
The latest fatalities comprised one person from each of the Regina, Saskatoon, northwest and north-central zones. Two of the people were in the 80-and-over group, with one in each of the 40-to-59 and 60-to-79 age ranges.
A look at the numbers
The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (69), Regina (50), central-east (32), north-central (30), southwest (19), northwest (17), far northeast (15), south-central (12), southeast (12), central-west (six), northeast (five) and far northwest (three) zones.
The hometowns of nine cases are pending. To date, there have been 74,673 COVID infections in Saskatchewan.
The new cases comprised 216 people who weren’t vaccinated, 51 individuals who had received two doses, and 12 people who were partially vaccinated.
The unvaccinated group included 64 children aged 11 and under (the only group that currently isn’t eligible to be vaccinated), 31 kids between the ages of 12 and 19 and 30 people aged 20 to 29.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases fell to 319, or 26.5 per 100,000 population.
The latest positive infections were detected in 2,679 tests for a test positivity rate of 10.4.
The recoveries announced Monday increased that total so far in the province to 70,218.
Of the 335 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, 254 weren’t fully vaccinated. There are 137 people with COVID in Saskatoon’s health-care facilities (97 inpatient, 40 in ICU), while Regina has 90 COVID cases in hospital (63 inpatient, 27 in ICU).
Vaccination update
There were 2,100 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, including 1,389 second doses.
To date, 768,183 people have received two shots and are considered fully vaccinated. More than 1.6 million COVID shots have been given in Saskatchewan so far.