The number of cases of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Saskatchewan decreased between January 15 and 28, a turnaround from the first week of the new year when both respiratory illnesses increased.
as per latest community respiratory disease surveillance program (CRISP) reported that the number of positive laboratory tests for COVID-19 decreased to 242 in the most recent week from 371 in the first week of January, and test positivity decreased from 6.9 percent to 4.4 percent.
“RSV cases remained stable at 157 cases over the past two weeks,” the CRISP report said. “However, the proportion of positive laboratory tests increased from 13.3 per cent to 15.9 per cent. Most cases remained in children of preschool age. ,
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The report notes that influenza activity is declining in the province, but COVID-19 continues with RSV to account for most respiratory virus hospitalizations.
According to the report, “Weekly visits to Saskatchewan emergency departments for a respiratory-like illness (RLI) increased from 18.4 last week to 21.7 per 1,000 this week.” “Calls to the 811 healthline for RLI dropped from 83.8 to 53 per 1,000.”
However, there has been a fluctuation in the outbreak of COVID-19 in high-risk areas over the last four weeks. The CRISP report said nine new COVID-19 outbreaks were reported and COVID-related deaths remained the same at 18 for the previous and current two-week periods.
Influenza cases also came down from 32 in the first week of January to only seven this week. Influenza test positivity also fell each week, from 2.1 percent in the first week of January to 0.6 percent this week, CRISP reporting shows.
Officials said no influenza outbreaks have been reported in high-risk locations in the past one month and no influenza hospitalizations or ICU admissions were reported on January 22-28.
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“The influenza vaccination campaign began on October 11, 2022. By December 31, 2022, a quarter of Saskatchewan’s population has received the influenza vaccine,” the report said. “This is an increase of one per cent from the previous reporting period. There has been a decrease of 12 per cent in the administered dose as compared to the same period last year.
However, RSV detection has remained stable over the past three weeks and sits at 15.9 percent – the highest laboratory test positivity of a respiratory virus. RSV cases are vast in the pediatric age group where there were 95 cases in patients aged 0-4 years.
Hospitalizations caused by RSV decreased by 19 percent in the weeks since Jan. 15 to Jan. 28, officials said. ICU admissions also decreased by 33 percent in the same time frame.
According to the report, “Children ages 0 – 19 account for 74 percent of RSV hospitalizations and ICU admissions in the past two weeks.”
The CRISP report shows that “other” respiratory viruses declined 32 percent in 96 lab detections in the past week since the beginning of January.
A full copy of the CRISP report can be found at Government of Saskatchewan website,
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