Ever since Saskatchewan dropped the last of the public health measures on July 11, people have been waiting to see how our COVID-19 numbers would be, and if we’d encounter the “super spreader” events.
The last three weeks haven’t been flawless. We’re still seeing more cases than anyone would like, especially in the far north, which has often accounted for at least half of our daily case count since July 11.
Obviously, we don’t want to see any COVID-19 outbreaks anywhere, and it is troubling when we see one up in the far north areas, which has shown itself to be susceptible to a large number of cases in a short period of time on multiple occasions.
But what we’ve seen in the last three weeks has been encouraging for other parts of Saskatchewan, as most of the 32 provincial sub-zones remain under 10 active cases (equivalent to less than one a day).
As of Tuesday, there were six active cases in South East Zone 4, the vast area that includes Estevan and most of the communities in the Mercury’s distribution area.
This was even though we had some large-scale events in the Estevan area shortly after restrictions were lifted.
The Lockdown End Party in downtown Estevan was the type of great party we’re used to having here, and that we missed for the 16 months of restrictions. It was a great night with more than 1,500 people dancing and singing and having a great time.
Even though they were closely bunched together, it did not become a super spreader.
The Estevan Motor Speedway held a doubleheader the same weekend as the Lockdown End Party, with more than 900 people present the first night alone. Again, it wasn’t a super spreader.
The next weekend, the Woodlawn Regional Park had a party down at Boundary Dam, with more than 1,000 people present for live music, dancing and revelry. As of press time, it did not result in a surge of cases.
And we’ve seen other events happen in the southeast that have not resulted in a sudden spike in the number of COVID cases like we saw in this area earlier this year, or other parts of the province in the past 16 months.
For those who were waiting for a sudden surge in cases because we’re now able to get together again, you would hope they’re happy to be wrong.
The end of restrictions and the successful events do not mean that COVID is over. Far from it. But it means that we should feel more comfortable when we go out.
There has to be COVID in the crowd to spread COVID. That might be part of the reason these events didn’t result in a surge. Nobody in the crowds those nights had the virus.
More than 60 per cent of Saskatchewan residents have been vaccinated against the virus; that is also a factor. And it appears that the vaccine has been effective, with the unvaccinated accounting for most of the new COVID cases, as well as the bulk of the COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths.
This is a trend that we’ve seen in other parts of the country.
And it probably helps that these have been outdoor events, where we haven’t seen as much transmission of the virus.
What we’ve seen recently in Estevan, with the events we’ve had, the increased interactions and physical contact, is likely proof that we should feel safe to be outdoors, mingling, and shaking hands and hugging and having fun, like we used to, especially if we’ve had two doses of the vaccine.
As for this fall, when we start to shift indoors, hopefully our case numbers will remain low, so that we don’t have to incur another round of restrictions.
So let’s make the most of our summer this year, and not worry about the people who are around us.
