SASKATOON -- Check back throughout the day for the latest on COVID-19 in Saskatoon and area.
If you're concerned you might be infected with COVID-19, the Saskatchewan COVID-19 self assessment tool is a helpful resource.
Here's advice on how to practice physical/social distancing and how to properly self-isolate at home. Struggling financially because of COVID-19? Support may be available from the federal government and the province.
One new confirmed case in province
Saskatchewan has one new COVID-19 case and nine new recoveries, the province reported on Tuesday.
The province has 301 total cases, with 110 considered active. In total, 187 people have recovered from the virus.
There are seven people receiving inpatient care.
Of the total cases in the province, 147 are located in Saskatoon, 65 in Regina, 57 in the north, 15 in the south, 10 in the central region and seven in the far north.
131 cases are considered travel related, 121 are a result of community contact, 27 cases are not associated with a known exposure and 22 are still under investigation.
Premier questions cancellation of drive-in church service
Saskatchewan's premier wants an explanation for why an Easter drive-in church service in Nipawin was prohibited over the weekend.
Jordan Gadsby, lead pastor of the Nipawin Apostolic Church, said people were invited to stop in an arena parking lot and tune into an Easter Sunday church service that morning from inside their vehicles.
On Saturday evening, he said he got a call from a public health official explaining that complaints had been made about the drive-in service.
Plan to move forward
A Saskatoon restaurant owner says it’s encouraging that the government of Saskatchewan is already looking at plans to lift COVID-19 restrictions.
"We didn't expect to be able to hear words like 'reopening' this early on. I think most of us were thinking June or July was becoming a reality, and maybe it still is, we don't really know,” said Brad Hamm, co-owner of Taste Restaurant Group.
On Monday, the province announced work is beginning on a plan to slowly lift restrictions and reopen businesses.
Court in the time of COVID-19
Lawyers’ desks are spaced six feet apart. Witnesses will testify from a jury seat away from the normal witness stand next to the judge. Attorneys and sheriffs will don medical face masks and gloves. Plexiglas panes surround the prisoner’s box.
That's what proceedings at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s bench now look like.
“We can’t ask people who work in grocery stores and liquor board stores to come to work and do their job and not ask public prosecutions to step up to the plate and do theirs,” said Crown prosecutor Melodi Kujawa.
First hair appointments once restrictions are eased
A local salon owner has come up with a creative solution for deciding who will get the first appointments when businesses can finally reopen.
Salon Sava is raffling off its first appointments, each entry is a $20 donation to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre.
"We wanted to use this situation to help people that aren’t sitting in a nice warm place with soup on the stove and food in the fridge," Salon Sava owner Valeri Amy said.
More masks and screening at health facilities
Starting Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will begin screening staff as well as contractors and vendors for influenza-like symptoms.
Staff who work around patients will be required to wear a mask at all times.
The SHA says it will also phase in twice-daily temperature checks for staff and others working in the province's healthcare settings.
Cameco mine remains in maintenance mode
Cameco announced Monday that it is extending the temporary production suspension at the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan as the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic persist.
“The global challenges posed by this pandemic are not abating – in fact, they are deepening,” president and CEO Tim Gitzel said in a news release.
“We therefore need to stay vigilant and do everything we can to keep people and families safe. We are especially sensitive to the situation in the remote, isolated communities of northern Saskatchewan that are home to a sizeable portion of the workforce at Cigar Lake.”
The shows won't go on
This year's Saskatoon Fringe Festival, one of the city's most popular summer events, has been cancelled.
"This was not a decision that was made lightly as we are aware of the impact that this cancellation will have not only on our community, but on the theatre artists who rely on the Festival to generate income,” 25th Street Theatre Board of Directors executive director Anita Smith said in a news release.
The festival was set to run from July 30 through Aug. 8.
Monday Recap
On Monday, the total number of cases of COVID-19 in the province reached 300.
However, the province said there were just two new cases among the 118 considered active.
While it's too early to say definitively if the curve is flattened, Premier Scott Moe did start to imagine what it might look like when restrictions are lifted and the province starts to reopen.
COVID-19 didn't prevent a touching tribute 25-year-old NHL player Colby Cave.
People parked their vehicles, at least two metres apart, along Highway 16 on the way to the Battlefords to greet Cave's family as they returned from Ontario where he died in hospital last week.
On Monday, FSIN Vice Chief David Pratt said there needs to be more personal protective equipment and testing for nurses and others in northern communities.
Also, some home bakers in the city are trying their hand at making sourdough bread because it doesn't require an ingredient that can be tricky to find during the pandemic: yeast.
