Murray Mandryk: Big COVID numbers require better understanding

Premier Scott Moe had to self-isolate the week before the beginning of the new session.

He did so because he came into contact with someone at a restaurant in Prince Albert after a family funeral.

Essentially, Moe was simply staying home and self-monitoring — really, no different than the reality for thousands of others in this province who have faced the increasingly growing prospects of encountering someone with COVID-19 that is now everywhere in the province.

For his political enemies, it became an opportunity to take a few cheap shots. This is one of the big problems in the COVID-19 fight.

It’s been far too politicized by fear, exaggerations and misinformation that have become the favour weapon of both sides.

The only way to defeat this virus is with facts, fair-mindedness and reason.

And that fight needs to begin with the stated and collective goal of reducing new and active cases by all of us doing what’s reasonable to reduce the spread.

The challenge, however, is that to accomplish this requires a buy-in from everyone without the distractions of political references about things like rights and freedoms.

That shouldn’t be much different than following the rules of the road, but even traffic laws need to be enforced by fines.

This is where it’s up to Moe’s government to impose stricter rules of the road and make sure through enforcement that people are following those rules.

We need to do this because where we are at right now suggests that will soon be in trouble if we don’t get a handle on the spread.

Sure, we have so far managed to avoid the death toll we’ve seen in Alberta or even Manitoba because we aren’t seeing as many deaths in care homes as elsewhere.

The problem, however, is Saskatchewan cases are on the rise because of the recent more rapid virus spread.

In fact, Saskatchewan had just surpassed Quebec for the second-most per capita COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country.

This is why medical professionals are ringing alarm bells.

While the dispute is one that’s been frequently categorized as one between the doctors and the business community, this really doesn’t really reflect the core concerns on either side.

One can understand why businesses — especially small businesses that have been barely hanging on for the past nine months — are frustrated by the prospects of shutdowns. Coming at the business crisis season for retail, this is a particularly frightening prospect.

But what cannot be lost is the concern of the doctors, nurses and others in the medical community of the health system being overrun with COVID-19 cases.

The prospects of hospitals — specifically, ICU beds — being overrun by COVID-19 patients is as frightening to medical professions as temporary shutdowns are to business people.

And their fear isn’t just their patients. The fear for many medical professionals is the health of themselves, their own families and their staff as the people most likely to be exposed to COVID-19.

It is more important than every for everyone to understand what hundreds of new cases each day might really means. With only around 100 ICU beds in the province, that means no beds available for those in serious car accidents or those suffering heart attacks if these beds are already occupied by COVID-19 patients.

We need to under how this virus spreads and have rules in place like the recent limits on household gatherings.

Recent information from government shows close contacts in houseshold is the top spreader of the virus.

However, the information also showed 25 per cent of infections come from recreational facilities like rinks, bingo halls, bowling alleys and casinos.

We need set aside our personal and political views and look objectively at what needs to be done.

We can win this battle thorough knowledge, understanding and co-operation.