Sask. to release COVID-19 modelling data soon: health minister
Saskatchewan residents will be able to see the province's COVID-19 modelling data "probably within the week," according to Health Minister Paul Merriman.
Merriman made the pledge in a media availability in Saskatoon on Thursday.
In a physician town hall on Sept. 23, Dr. Susan Shaw, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s chief medical officer, said the modelling data is available but is not being widely shared with doctors across the province as per a decision by the Ministry of Health.
At the time, the health ministry did not respond to a request for comment from CTV News.
Merriman said Thursday that modelling is one tool to be able look forward, but it doesn't take all factors into account, such as increased vaccination rates and the fact that 20 per cent of cases are under the age of 20 and there's a low risk of them ending up in hospital.
"So the modeling looks at one scenario of 'this is what could happen if nothing changed from now until a month from now,' so it's not the most accurate,” he said.
"We've seen in the past that the modeling hasn't been extremely accurate in everything that we're doing. They were projecting at the end of August that there was going to be six, seven hundred cases a day, that didn't happen.”
He said he had "no issue" with the modelling being released and provided to media, but in the context that it is a forecast and is not going to be "concrete."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.