COVID-19 in Sask.: 9 new deaths reported after database error causes delay
CBC
The Saskatchewan government added nine COVID-19-related deaths and removed one from the pandemic total on Friday, after health officials said a database error caused a delay in death recording over the last two weeks.
"The notable length of time without a new death being reported initiated an audit of reporting systems," the province said on its online COVID-19 dashboard.
"While COVID-19 data has been entered into Panorama throughout January, a programming parameter of December 31, 2021 had limited death and recovered cases data from being compiled."
The number of new cases, hospitalization and ICU statistics were not affected by the error, since a different program is used to track those numbers, the province noted.
However, another audit of the COVID-19 test reporting systems led officials to find another 2,693 negative COVID-19 test results from third-party PCR tests dated from July to November 2021. Those results have since been added onto the dashboard.
"Recent audits found that this manual entry was missed or not correctly integrated into provincial databases. These manual processes have now been automated," the province said, noting weekly average calculations will likely be affected.
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Saskatchewan's test positivity rate — the percentage of people who test positive through PCR tests — fell to 31 per cent on Friday, down from Thursday's 33 per cent.
The province reported 6,696 more tests Friday. However, 2,693 of those were negative tests that the audit discovered that had previously not been added to the provincial dashboard.
That means there were 4,003 new tests done Thursday included in Friday's report. The new tests led to 1,256 new positive results.
Saskatchewan's seven-day rolling average of test positivity sat at 33 per cent, while the known active COVID-19 case count was 12,199.
However, these numbers are likely understated as they don't take into account everyone who tests positive for the virus on an at-home rapid test.
There were 215 people in hospital on Friday, including 23 patients in intensive care — unchanged from the day before.
Of the 192 inpatients, 88 are hospitalized for a COVID-19-related illness, while 89 are "incidental" COVID-19 infections and 15 are undetermined.
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