'Out of control': Sask. doctors say record reported COVID-19 death toll in Oct. sign of dire situation
CBC
There were at least 156 COVID-19-related deaths reported in Saskatchewan in October, beating January 2021 for the worst month during the pandemic, despite vaccines not being widely available at that time.
Saskatchewan reported one new death on Sunday, Oct. 31, bringing the total number of deaths reported in the province during the entire pandemic to 851.
The record raises red flags for physicians and doctors who have been watching the pandemic unfold.
Many of them have either been at bedsides watching it happen, or hearing from colleagues about the situation in hospitals.
"The numbers that we're seeing now and the deaths that we're seeing go along with the fact that COVID is really very out of control in the province," said Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association.
She was raised in Saskatchewan and said it's "distressing" to watch the province become the worst-hit province across several unfortunate categories.
As of Friday, there had been 2.9 deaths per 100,000 over the past seven days in the province, according to the Government of Canada's epidemiology update.
Saskatchewan also holds top spot among provinces for the rate of active cases, 201 per 100,000 people, and the rate of new cases over the past seven days — also as of Friday.
Smart called the increasing numbers a "deep crisis."
"To see people suffering and knowing that some degree of that could have been prevented with more public health strategies is really devastating," she said.
Several physicians have pointed to the prominence of the delta variant as a chief reason for the increased spread of the virus.
When it's not controlled through public health measures, the variant will cause high rates of infection and more illness, said Dr. Dennis Kendel, a former physician and health policy consultant.
"Many, many of those deaths would have been preventable if the government had acted on the recommendations from the medical health officers promptly," he said, noting the government's delayed response to medical health officers' call for public health measures.
"A lot of those deaths are attributable to delay in government action."
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