Saskatchewan expands mandatory mask use, curfews on bars and nightclubs

The Saskatchewan government announced more measures Friday to curb the transmission of COVID-19.

But even while doing so, health officials recognize residents are the only ones who can make the restrictions work.

“The responsibility is on all of us, not just myself or Dr. (Saqib) Shahab and his team …,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said during a media conference. “The responsibility is on each individual to adhere to the public health regulations that are out there.

“That is what’s going to help. If we have a lot of regulations out there and there’s no compliance, then it creates a challenge.”

Merriman said he had “full faith in the people of Saskatchewan” to comply with the new restrictions. That may explain why the government didn’t increase fines or create educational programs to prompt people to follow the new restrictions.

Asked why the government didn’t do more to ensure compliance, Merriman replied: “We may.”

The restrictions announced Friday were implemented after six straight days of triple-digit totals of new cases in Saskatchewan.

The province reported 81 new cases Friday, its lowest single-day total since Nov. 4. But the average over the past week is 128 new cases per day.

“Five cases per 100,000 — which is around 60 cases per day — is when we need to sit up and start taking notice,” said Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer.

“Ten cases per 100,000 — which is around 120 cases a day on average — is when we need to start looking at specific measures to slow our transmission down and we are at that rate now.”

Hence Friday’s announcement, which was accompanied by a plea from Dr. Susan Shaw, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s chief medical officer.

Starting Monday, masks in indoor public places will be mandatory in all Saskatchewan communities with populations of 5,000 or more.

Non-medical masks already previously were mandated in indoor public places in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. On Friday, that list expanded to include 59 communities that account for more than 65 per cent of the province’s population.

The new masking requirements also cover the communities or municipalities around the province’s three largest cities.

“Due to their proximity to the urban centres and high rate of retail, workplace and service integration, they will be included even if their independent populations are less than 5,000 residents,” the government said in a media release.

The government stressed it’s more interested in education than enforcement of the masking order, but public health will “monitor compliance and encourage all individuals, businesses and organizations to abide by the masking order.”

Secondly, last call at all restaurants and licensed establishments (including bars, taverns and nightclubs) in the province will move to 10 p.m. All drinks must be consumed by 11 p.m.

Previously, only nightclubs in Saskatoon faced those restrictions.

There aren’t exceptions for private events or outdoor spaces.

Those restrictions are to take effect Monday and are to be in place for 28 days. They’ll then be reviewed by Shahab.

The province also is recommending that all high schools with at least 600 students move to Level 3 in the Safe Schools Plan. That will reduce the number of students learning in class on a daily basis.

The government noted the transmission of the virus in school settings has been limited, but it made the recommendation to go up a level.

Public high schools in Regina moved to Level 3 on Thursday.

Fitness facilities can continue to operate, but all group fitness activities (such as spin classes and circuit training) will be limited to a maximum of eight participants. All participants must stay three metres apart for the duration of the session.

If that’s impossible, the classes must be suspended.

As well, all hookah and waterpipe services are no longer allowed in the province.

Physical distancing, hand-washing and other measures have been suggested since March. The Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan created guidelines for businesses and organizations — and those have again been updated.

On Friday, the plan added new guidelines for arenas, sports, performing arts and transportation. The latest version of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan can be seen below.

Shahab previously amended public health orders to lower the maximum number of people at indoor private gatherings from 15 to 10. He said Friday he’ll look at further restrictions if transmission can’t be curbed.

“If we don’t see an incremental benefit from all of those things, then we will have to further restrict or make it not possible to do many of the things that we enjoy,” he said.

“It is a graded response, a proportional response we think, but unfortunately if we see the cases some other jurisdictions have seen in North America and Europe, then unfortunately sometimes the only option is a significant slowdown or lockdown.”

Alberta and Manitoba have announced new restrictions in the past few days in hopes of reversing upward trends in cases. Merriman said Saskatchewan doesn’t want to go the same direction, but it’s stopping short of closing things down completely.

“No one wants to get back to another lockdown,” he said. “No one wants to close businesses and put people out of work. But we need to slow down the spread of this virus. A slowdown is how we’ll avoid another lockdown.”

Hopkins hoping to avoid shutdown

Before Friday’s announcement, the CEO of the Regina Chamber of Commerce said he was hoping to avoid an economy-wide shutdown.

John Hopkins said a repeat of what happened during the spring would be devastating for businesses.

“Businesses are still trying to recover and many haven’t recovered from the first wave,” Hopkins told the Greg Morgan Morning Show. “And to do this to do it again would be … a death knell for a lot of businesses.”

Hopkins believes most people are satisfied with how the province has handled the virus up to now. He supports targeted restrictions, such as the government’s decision to make masks mandatory in indoor public spaces in Saskatchewan’s three biggest cities as well as imposing a curfew on nightclubs in Saskatoon.

He stressed the need to get the pandemic under control.

“We don’t want to get to the Manitoba situation,” he said, referring to recent spike in cases in that province and its subsequent lockdown. “That’s the worst place that we can get to in terms of the economy so we’re hoping that we’re not along that sort of line at this point.”