Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Adriana Christianson

Province assures public there aren’t any cases of COVID-19 in Sask.

Mar 6, 2020 | 1:25 PM

The province is confirming there aren’t any positive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Saskatchewan to date.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, shut down a rumour circulating on social media Thursday about a possible confirmed case of the coronavirus which was in fact only a common cold.

He explained the scare comes from the wording of a regular lab test which covers influenza and various respiratory viruses causing coughs and colds which are called coronaviruses.

“A coronavirus positive test result just means you have the common cold, and there’s been some concern that someone had a test that said ‘coronavirus positive.’ That’s not COVID-19, that’s just the common cold,” Shahab told reporters Thursday afternoon.

Shahab clarified the test for COVID-19 is labelled that way and any positive test result would be reported publicly.

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He said Saskatchewan is ramping up testing for COVID-19 based on people reporting symptoms of a fever, sore throat and cough after travelling. There have been 52 tests done and 45 have come back negative with seven results still pending.

As influenza season winds down and more countries report outbreaks, Shahab advised people to monitor their symptoms of fever and sore throats, report the symptoms to public health and consider getting testing for COVID-19 if they have travelled recently.

“If it is COVID-19, even then for the most part it may be mild symptoms and you’ll do well. But there, public health will work with you to make sure your test results are negative before you can go to school or work and that may take two weeks or three weeks. In the recent Canadian cases, it’s generally taken two to four weeks,” Shahab said.

His advice to people concerned about their own travel plans is to be aware of the countries and areas which are reporting outbreaks such as Italy, South Korea or Iran. Shahab said the decision to cancel a trip should be based on a person’s own individual health.

“I think it depends on your own risk tolerance really. Do you have underlying risk factors or underlying health factors? What are the implications if you become ill there? Because you may have to stay for quite a bit there or if you come back and become ill, you might have to stay home on self-isolation. So I think all those factors should be taken into consideration,” Shahab said.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority and the province have formed task forces to determine how to manage any potential outbreaks. Shahab noted the majority of cases in countries with outbreaks are still mild enough to be treated at home in isolation and more severe cases are in people over 50 with underlying health conditions.

The best advice to people to keep the risk down is to wash their hands properly and avoid going to work or school if they get sick.

Shahab is also urging workplaces to support employees who need to stay home if they feel sick.