Sask. gov’t announces some COVID measures, but masks not mandated

The Government of Saskatchewan is taking steps to address rising COVID-19 cases in the province — but those steps don’t include new public health orders such as mandatory masking or vaccination incentives.

On Friday, the government announced it was making changes to help the health-care system, to help people get more access to testing, and to get those who test positive to self-isolate.

The province removed all public health measures on July 11. In recent weeks, cases in Saskatchewan have skyrocketed, with the number of active cases increasing from a low of 242 on July 20 to 3,416 as of Thursday.

Hospitalizations also have increased significantly, more than doubling from Aug. 21 (when there were 89) to Thursday (when there were 184).

That has placed strain on the province’s health-care facilities and staff.

I'm honestly numb. I'm so personally disappointed & frustrated watching our elected officials abandon the public health good of our province for… really… what?

Make no mistake. We're on our own.

— Dr. Alexander Wong (@awong37) September 10, 2021

Premier Scott Moe says there are a number of reasons why the province is again not moving forward with a mask mandate — even for cities where COVID-19 is skyrocketing like Saskatoon.

“Masks for the most part have been normalized in society,” Moe said during a media conference. “We are going to see people wear masks (and) choose to wear masks as we move forward.”

He added there are other significant recommendations that are addressing the most effective tool to fight the virus — and that’s vaccinations.

“I said a few weeks ago that increasingly, as we move forward, as our cases continue to increase, it is going to be increasingly uncomfortable to be unvaccinated in this province,” he said.

Moe said the province is working with several organizations to implement proof of vaccination/proof of negative test policy.

“As we move forward, a number of the public health measures — I would say they are never off the table — (but) as our cases continue to increase, we continue to have conversations with Dr. (Saqib) Shahab and our teams (about those measures),” Moe said.

“But we strongly feel that the best tool we have in this province and across our nation in battling COVID-19 … is vaccination.”

Health care

The government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority announced they were reducing non-critical and elective services in hopes of easing pressure on the health-care system.

“The strategy to reduce the pressure on staff and assign them to those duties that are going to be most important over the next few weeks as we see cases rise is to slow down the system again,” explained SHA CEO Scott Livingstone, who said during a media conference the service slowdown will look like the one implemented last year.

“The temporary service disruptions that will result will be as localized and time-limited as possible to limit impact on patients and be announced as they are ready for implementation through the SHA’s normal service disruption public notification processes,” a government media release added.

With some services being reduced, the SHA is to purchase approximately 8,500 MRI and CT scans from private providers, and will do an additional 2,300 scans in smaller hospitals.

“One of the concerns that we have is not just the burnout and the stress in the staff, it’s the non-COVID patients that are coming into the facilities and the fact that, after 19 months across this country, there have been unmet health needs,” said Livingstone.

“The reality of the situation is is with the caseloads that are coming, everyday health services will not look like everyday health-care services because of the service slowdown.”

Self-isolation

As of Friday, anyone who tests positive for COVID will have to self-isolate for 10 days after receiving the result.

“Unvaccinated close contacts of individuals that tested positive for COVID-19 will also be required to self-isolate,” the release said. “Fully vaccinated individuals identified as a close contact of a positive case will not be required to self-isolate, but will be required to self-monitor and seek testing at the first sign of COVID-19 symptoms.”

Labour mobility

As it shifts employees from one area to others to deal with COVID issues, the SHA is getting help from the government to reach a “renewed agreement with health-care provider unions to provide greater flexibility in scheduling and placing health-care workers in areas experiencing surges in capacity pressures.”

Earlier this year, the SHA and health sector unions agreed to a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that allowed for labour mobility. The LOU expired when the provincial state of emergency was lifted.

The government said if an agreement can’t be reached by Monday, it will sign another provincial emergency order that would reinstate the previous provisions allowing for mobility.

“An ICU bed and a ventilator are just equipment, and we have that, but what we need are our frontline health-care staff there, supporting patients should they require care,” Moe said.

Moe said the government has to make sure the SHA has the ability to place staff where they’re needed, pointing out that in July, more than 17,000 shifts went unfilled in health-care facilities across the province, which is an increase of about 160 per cent over July in 2020.

Moe, Livingstone and Shahab all acknowledged that burnout for health-care workers is real.

“The pressures are very real and we are making efforts now to ensure that we can free up staff to support those folks that are currently working in those areas,” said Moe.

Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said some of the health-care workers’ stress is from not being able to be with family and take vacations, but people being unvaccinated also weighs heavily on their hearts.

“We have a safe and effective vaccine and it is unfathomable to people who are fully vaccinated, why so many people choose to remain unvaccinated,” said Shahab.

Livingstone said early on in the pandemic, people were going out every night and thanking health-care workers, but that’s not necessarily the case now.

“Today we phone cases that are COVID positive and all they seem to be able to do is swear at our staff and treat them in a bad way. That’s happening on social media, that’s happening in our facilities and it has to stop,” said Livingstone.

Testing and contact tracing

The SHA and Ministry of Health plan to expand testing capacity using existing third-party contracted testing service providers, as well as by getting more publicly funded testing resources.

As well, more rapid testing resources will be used in Saskatchewan. The province has purchased an additional 1 million rapid antigen tests from the federal government, with a shipment of 500,000 to arrive late next week.

The tests are to be made available to long-term care and personal care facilities, shelters, group homes and schools for routine screening; to health-care workers, dentists, first responders and pharmacists for self-testing; to businesses for workplace screening; and to schools for students under the age of 12 and their families to use for at-home testing.

As well, the SHA, the Ministry of Health and SaskBuilds and Procurement are planning to recruit private contract tracing resources to address a shortage in that area.

Booster doses

Starting in October, COVID-19 booster shots will be available for Saskatchewan seniors, with further expansion to the public throughout the winter.

Further details including eligibility for boosters, sequencing, and timing of the shots are to be announced in the weeks ahead.

Proof of vaccination for health-care workers

All SHA employees now will be required to provide proof of vaccination.

“Consultations with key stakeholders are currently underway in order to fully develop the policy and implementation plan to require proof of vaccination or proof of negative test for all SHA employees,” the government’s release said.

QR codes

The government’s verifiable record of vaccination is to be launched the week of Sept. 20.

Residents who are currently registered for eHealth Saskatchewan’s MySaskHealthRecord will be able to download their vaccine record, including a unique QR code, and protect personal health information.

The government said businesses, organizations, post-secondary institutions and municipalities that require proof of vaccination “will be able to download a separate app to scan the QR codes to verify vaccination records without retaining or viewing any personal health information.”