What Saskatchewan's high COVID-19 test-positivity means for the province
CBC
Saskatchewan has ramped up its testing for COVID-19 and recorded the highest positivity rates of any province in Canada in recent weeks, but at least one expert says it's likely the province could still be missing hundreds if not thousands of cases every day.
"If we have 500 cases on a given day it's probably the true number is closer to 2,000," said Dr. Cory Neudorf, an epidemiologist at the University of Saskatchewan and the interim senior medical health officer with Saskatchewan Health Authority.
There are a variety of reasons why that is, said Neudorf.
The responses to the COVID-19 virus can vary, with some people having very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all while others are hospitalized or die. Those with mild cases may not be getting tested and could be spreading the disease to multiple people before they finally take action, Neudorf said.
One of the key ways of telling whether we're doing enough to detect COVID-19 is to look at the test positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that are coming back positive.
In Saskatchewan that number has been climbing since the end of July, when it was 3.5 per cent.
The province hit a rolling seven-day average high of 13 per cent at the start of October and it's only dropped down to 12 per cent in the past few days.