Saskatchewan is pulling off a COVID-19 miracle.
Well, maybe not quite yet, given the long and winding road ahead over the next two months, but as of right now, yes, something special is happening in this province.
It was early last week – on April 5 to be precise – that we saw the start of a what would become a trend of single digit day-to-day increases in the number of cases in the province. Incredibly, since last Sunday, only once has the total number of new cases broke 10 in a single day.
Only once.
And it's not for a lack of testing, either. Saskatchewan has conducted a minimum of 500 tests a day over that span, and has more often hit 800 to 1,000 tests. With the new and improved testing capacity revealed on Sunday, testing will only improve going forward.
It stands to reason that more tests will lead to greater numbers of cases found, but that hasn't materialized.
And once again, it's because Saskatchewan is listening.
It's come to the point that by not becoming a pariah, you'll be branded a pariah. Social distancing and turning yourself into an outcast has become an artform with Facebook and TikTok and Twitter as the platform. And it's all a source of pride, rightfully so.
And here in this province, people are doing such a great job of it that something stunning has begun to happen:
Prairie South School Division employee and Moose Jaw lacrosse legend Barry Stewart has compiled a daily graph on Facebook showing the number of cases in the province and how they relate to recovered, ongoing cases and deaths.
CaptionA day later, and the gulf had grown even further, and as of this writing sits at 164 recoveries to 130 current cases.
If that trend continues, by early May and possibly as soon as the end of April, Saskatchewan could be COVID-19 free.
If that isn't a miracle, then I don't know what is.
An interesting metric to show just how successful Saskatchewan's battle with COVID-19 has been going is comparing our results with that of our southern neighbours on a state-by-state, population-per-million basis.
As of Sunday, only Minnesota had fewer cases per million population at 293. A week ago, we would have been the fifth best. Deaths per million? Only Wyoming is better, but that's due to no data being reported. West Virginia is tied with four.
In only a week, Saskatchewan has improved to the point that it would have the best response of all but two states in the U.S.
By next week, we'll be the best, and by hundreds of cases at that.
Now here's the thing about all this.
Now is not the time to relax, it's not the time to let up and it's not the time to start thinking about re-opening the province. That's a dream that's even in the best-case divine-intervention scenario depicted above, isn't happening until at least late May because the second we relax, this is going to wreak havoc.
And it won't take long, either. It's been seen over and over again in the U.S. and around the globe, sudden outbreaks and even deaths because a group or even an individual flouted a public safety order.
COVID-19 doesn't care if you've been cooped up in the house for a month, and it's the undisputed world champion of hide and seek at this point. The only way to stay safe is doing exactly what we're doing.
Stay home. Wash your hands. Social distance. LISTEN.
We're still winning, but we still have a long war in front of us.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
