As holiday weekend approaches, NDP demands advice on how to spend Thanksgiving

Fearing a surge of COVID-19 infections fuelled by indoor gatherings, NDP Leader Ryan Meili is calling on the Saskatchewan government to limit gatherings and to offer advice on how people can safely celebrate Thanksgiving.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Meili gave a reminder of past long weekends that were followed by large spikes in cases of COVID-19.

After Thanksgiving last year, the daily case average jumped by 2.7 times, hospitalizations spiked by 4.8 times and active cases rose by 3.7 times, according to a news release from the party. Meili said last Easter also gave way to a sharp increase in these metrics.

The holiday weekend approaches as the province’s health-care system has been overwhelmed by record hospitalizations and ICU admissions stemming from the Delta-driven fourth wave.

Meili said the province should make restrictions based on its modelling data and to release that data.

“We need to be honest with people. Yeah, we all want to gather. We all want to see our families. It just kills me that I’m not going to pack the kids in the car and drive to Moose Jaw and hang out with my mom and dad,” he said.

“But I’m not going to do that because I don’t want to put them at risk. People need to hear that from their leaders.”

Later Tuesday afternoon, a government news release did not announce any caps on gatherings but advised people to take the following precautions: Meet outdoors as much as possible, know the vaccination status of guests, and follow mask and vaccination requirements at public places. For those who are unvaccinated, the release says they “should not gather with family and friends.”

Last week, the City of Saskatoon voted to ask the province for a restriction on gatherings.

Organizations representing health-care workers like the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, the Saskatchewan Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association have been urging gathering limits to help the health-care system deal with the strain.

“Even Dr. (Saqib) Shahab (Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer) is sitting there beside the health minister saying, ‘We need to do more. We need to talk about limiting gathering sizes,’ and the health minister … he’s just so resistant to doing anything to help protect Saskatchewan people,” Meili said in reference to Paul Merriman.

The response to those voices calling for stronger restrictions has been silence, Meili said.

“Have clear information from the leaders and people will make the right decisions. I trust Saskatchewan people but you can’t leave it up to them to have to make it up on their own,” he said.