Regina’s coronavirus case count has more than quadrupled over the past month.
While the Queen City had 34 active cases on Oct. 1, as of Nov. 1, it had 143.
Regina, where the spread of the novel coronavirus appeared to have been held at bay in the spring and summer, now has the second-most active cases in Saskatchewan behind only Saskatoon, which had 284 as of Nov. 1.
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The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) deputy medical health officer for the Regina Qu’Appelle region, Dr. Maurice Hennink, says the vast majority of the surge in Regina is being traced back to young adults living in overcrowded households.
“When one person becomes positive for COVID-19, they have five, six roommates,” Hennink told Global News. “That certainly drives the numbers up very rapidly.”
In such settings, quarantining can be complicated, he said, and breaking the chain of transmission involves more than just mask-use and hand hygiene.
“We try to arrange alternative accommodations for the actual case in the hopes that we limit the spread,” Hennink said.
Although many of these young people are students and/or hold jobs in the service industry, he said he doesn’t see cause for customer concern.
“The general customer experience shouldn’t be interrupted,” Hennink said. “If one goes to a restaurant setting, or a takeout setting and so on, with your usual precautions, it’s realtively quite safe.”
There have also been three or four instances where the virus has been transmitted in a Regina workplace, Hennink said.
“Small clusters — eight, nine, 10 — persons may have been affected and their families have been affected,” he said, adding that there has been at least one wedding that has further contributed to the spike in numbers.
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“It’s been a combination of events, circumstance and situations where spread can occur easily.”
Hennink said this is “part of what we’re seeing as a second wave” and is not unexpected.
In fact, it’s “pretty much what we predicted as fall comes,” he said, noting the surge in numbers is also happening nationwide.
He urges people to remain vigilant when it comes to following protocols to mitigate the spread.