Christmas relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions improbable, says Moe

By Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

REGINA – It appears Premier Scott Moe’s hopes that families in Saskatchewan could get together, or at least visit loved ones in long-term care, over the holidays are likely to be dashed.

Moe said as much as part of a discourse in question period on Dec. 9. Speaking to reporters afterward, Moe said, “I personally have had hoped that we would be able to look at relaxing some of those restrictions, if ever so slightly, to allow families to come together, and particularly those in our long term care homes. We have had some degree of success with the measures that were put in place on November 27th. It does seem to be appearing to reducing the rate of transmission of COVID, here in the province. So that is a positive, but in saying that, they are stabilizing at a rate that is yet far too high. Our daily rate, our week-over-week rate, and our community transmission rate is still far too high. And so it does seem, as we get closer to December 17, through discussions with Dr. Shahab, that it does seem that it will be improbable that we are going to be able to relax those restrictions in any way on December the 17th. But we will have more to say as we get closer.”

This acknowledgement came a day after Alberta announced a substantial lockdown to fight COVID-19 which was a result of that province’s more open policies being ineffectual in curbing the spread in that province.

While it was one step back, this development came a few hours after Moe and the team of top-level Ministry of Health leadership were able to announce the rollout of Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, a major turning point for the province.

In the house, New Democratic Party Leader Ryan Meili pointed to elevated COVID-19 positivity rates of 8 per cent, on Dec. 9, and asked Premier Scott Moe, “Why is this government failing to conduct and process the promised 4,000 tests per day?”

Moe responded that it looks like the 7-day average of new cases is looking like it is plateauing. “We’re quite confident that is in the cards,” he said, noting restrictions implemented within the last couple weeks, and particularly those on Nov. 27, have had an impact.

Moe said those measures will be re-looked at on Dec. 17, and there will be three choices “where we will either move forward status quo with those measures, which appear to be having an effect, or we will look at increasing, those measures, or the third option would be some degree of relaxation heading into the Christmas season. With respect to that third measure of opportunity of possibly relaxing some of those measures heading into the Christmas season, I think, given the numbers that we are seeing on a 7-day rolling average, the Leader of the Opposition is right, with our seven day test positivity rate of over 8 per cent, and it's looking improbable that we are going to be able to relax our measures around long term care facilities, in our home our home-based visits, our home-based bubbles.

“But we are looking towards December the 17th where we will continue to take Dr. Shahab and his team's public health advice, with the requirement we have going forward from that date.”

Meili said some lab techs have told them “they’re having to leave 500 to 2,000 cases unprocessed at the end of each day.”

He asked what it would take to get testing up to 4,000 tests per day?

Moe pointed out that back in January, very little testing was occurring anywhere in Canada or around the world.

“Our contact tracing has increased from originally 60 people up to well over 400 and continues to increase with the advent of public service people that are moving into that area, as well as now, some federally employed people moving into that area.

“I don't have today's numbers, but as of a few days ago, the 7-day average for our tests that were completed was over 3,500. I believe we’re around 3,400 tests per day. We have approved the hiring 76 additional FTS (full-time equivalents) into the provincial lab.

“We have also approved a number of rapid tests are being made available in our long-term care facilities. Here, we have again expert tests that we've been working with the federal government to ensure that we're able to procure cartridges for those tests that are placed in rural and remote locations around the province.

“As well, we’re looking at the private sector to enhance the testing capacity we have here, in the province of Saskatchewan. This is something we have worked very closely with, our provincial resources, with the private sector. And we’ve worked with the federal government on providing the resources for testing capacity here in the province,” Moe said.

PHOTO: Premier Scott Moe’s hopes of Christmas get togethers are now improbable, he said. Screen capture courtesy Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan