Murray Mandryk: Regina COVID-19 cases demonstrate provincewide problem

By Murray Mandryk

Many of you in rural Saskatchewan would be quick to agree that the problem is always Regina where the decisions on running the province are made.

Most days, you’d likely be correct.

But when it comes to COVID-19 in Saskatchewan right now, Regina is the problem.

During one three-day stretch last week, the province saw 130 of 329 new cases in the Queen City— 50 out of 98 in single day. Regina also accounted for 30 per cent of active cases —420 out of 1,414.

And while Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab has suggested there is no one reason why cases have been rising in Regina compared with everywhere else in the province, government also recently noted 35 cases of the new more infectious variant of COVID-19 have been spotted in Regina.

So if Regina is the problem, why would the latest COVID-19 restrictions apply equally to Regina that clearly has a bigger problem and is likely in need of further restrictions?

The problem may be that imposing restrictions on just one city may be an even bigger problem.

Premier Scott Moe’s recently announced a slight easing of his Dec. 19 public health restrictions by increasing household bubbles to 10 people from as many as three different households and by increasing the size of worship services to the lesser of 30 per cent of a church’s capacity or 150 people.

“We are putting our trust and our faith in the people in province,” Moe told reporters at a press conference. “They’re going to have some personal decisions to make in the next number of days and weeks, and we trust that they will make the appropriate ones.”

There are a more than a few problems with this approach.

Notwithstanding Saskatchewan’s general approach of co-operation and looking out for one’s neighbour, we live in a world of mass media and social media instantaneous communication.

The news from the United States and elsewhere coming from unreliable Internet sources or news channels of a particular leaning only reinforce whatever message people want to hear.

In other words, it’s really hard for governments to get people to follow their messages. And in the pandemic situation we are in where it’s critical to get everyone to buy in, it’s that much harder.

The problem with the latest restrictions is that even more reasonable people might not view them as consistent, logical or enforceable.

If Shahab is telling us that household spread is the biggest problem in fighting COVID-19, does it truly make sense to expand our household bubbles?

Is anyone really going to pay attention to the latest recommendation that those 50 years and older keep their bubbles to their immediate households if they now have an opportunity to expand their bubble to the bubbles of their adult children or grandchildren?

And if the problem remains indoor spread, does it make sense to keep the 10-person restrictions on outdoor gathers yet allow as many as 150 people at an indoor church service? Despite added recommendations to keep the six-foot social distance and to wear masks, isn’t this just looking for trouble?

Finally, if we are being told we need to keep our distance until we are vaccinated, why not wait with these recent tempting restrictions until we are vaccinated?

Well, Moe’s government likely felt it had to do something — especially given that we winning COVID-19 fight elsewhere.

However, with Regina cases pumping up provincial numbers, there was only so much he could do.

Separate restrictions aimed specifically at Regina would be hard to enforce — especially with the rural areas so interconnected to the cities for commerce or social reasons. This would not be like blocking roads into La Loche or restricting visitations on Hutterite colonies.

We likely have reason to blame Regina, but the recent Regina outbreak reminds us we are all in this together.