In 2021, Saskatchewan reported 802 deaths from COVID-19, which dwarfs the 153 deaths officially reported by the province in 2020, this report said.
Despite the record number of deaths, the Community Respiratory Disease Surveillance Program (CRISP) reveals a decrease in the number of cases of hospitalizations and deaths between December 4 and 17 related to this disease.
Indeed, there were 105 hospitalizations between December 11 and 17, including four people admitted to intensive care.
The previous week, 116 hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 were recorded, including 7 in intensive care.
The report also indicates that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases nearly doubled in the last reporting period, from 83 detections in the first week to 149 in the second.
In the most recent week of monitoring, 37 people were hospitalized with the virus, with one person placed in the intensive care unit. The previous week, 23 people were admitted to hospital.
According to the same report, during the most recent surveillance week, 94 (63%) of the cases in VRS have been detected in children under 5 years of age.
The name of grippe case in Saskatchewan decreases
The number of influenza cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Saskatchewan has decreased over the last surveillance period.
Nevertheless, three additional deaths were reported in the most recent report of the CRISP. During the previous two-week period, seven deaths were reported.
The number of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases fell from 411 to 257 during the reporting period, while the number of influenza-related hospitalizations fell from 71 to 37.
As for the positivity of flu tests, it fell by almost half between the week ending November 20 and the week ending December 17. However, influenza continues to have the highest positivity rate among respiratory illnesses in the province.
The report of CRISP also indicates that 13.2% of students in the provinces missed school due to illness between December 11 and 17, a slight decrease from the previous two weeks.
Vaccination rates for COVID-19 and influenza are stagnating.
With the exception of Regina, less than 50% of the population in the rest of the province is up to date on COVID-19 vaccines.
The flu vaccination rate is even worse, according to the report. So far, only 24% of the province’s population has received a flu shot.
This is a 2% increase over the previous period, but 12% less than the same time last year.
Provincially, the number of weekly visits to Saskatchewan emergency departments for respiratory-related illnesses has gradually declined over the past month, from 56 last week to 32 per 1,000 people.
