No one is coming for Christmas: Saskatchewan brings in more COVID-19 restrictions
By Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Regina – When the current public health orders were put in place in late November with the intention of curbing the exponential growth of new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, the plan was to update these measures on Dec. 17. But the provincial government didn’t wait, and on Dec. 14, announced several additional measures, the first of which will take effect three days later. And those new measures are proof positive that Premier Scott Moe’s stated desire to be able to slightly reduce restrictions in time for the Christmas holidays have been dashed.
Indeed, one of the key new orders is that except for people who live alone, basically no one is allowed over to your place, or anyone else’s, for Christmas, or New Years, or any other date until Jan. 15.
The new public health measures are in addition to those in effect as of Nov. 27, 2020. All public health measures will remain in effect until Jan. 15, 2021, at which time they will be reviewed by the provincial Chief Medical Health Officer.
“It’s a little bit of Buckley’s,” said Moe, riffing off the cough syrup whose tagline is “It tastes awful, but it works.”
“It doesn’t takes good, but it is absolutely necessary for us to preserve the capacity we have in our healthcare system, absolutely necessary for us to preserve the economic activity, the jobs that we currently have in our communities, but also the opportunity for us to recover and to build back to not only where we were, pre-COVID, but better and larger,” Moe said.
The public health orders for licensed establishments; sports, fitness and dance; places of worship; and mandatory masking remain in place. Public health continues to emphasize working from home, whenever possible. The province continues to strongly recommend that only one member of a household do required shopping, and limit shopping to essential items as much as possible. All non-essential interprovincial travel is discouraged.
As of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, December 17, private, indoor gatherings will be limited to immediate household members only. Single individuals are permitted to meet with one, consistent household of less than five individuals for the duration of the order. Co-parenting arrangements are permitted to continue. Caregivers and support services in the home are permitted to continue.
People may meet and greet outdoors with up to 10 people only, provided physical distancing between households can be maintained.
As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, casinos and bingo halls must close. Personal services may operate at 50 per cent capacity, including staff and clients. Personal services include hairdresser/barber, esthetics, massage therapy, acupuncture, tattooing, etc.
Event venues, conference facilities, arenas, arts venues, museums, movie and live theatres and banquet facilities may still have events up to 30 individuals. During events in these venues, all guests must be seated for the duration. Food and drink are not permitted unless explicitly stated in the order.
The orders point out that the guidance for weddings and funeral ceremonies and places of worship is 30 individuals only. Concurrent services may not occur within multiple locations within one facility.
Notably, measures are being implemented to reduce the number of people in retail establishments, timed such that they take place after the Christmas rush, but before Boxing Day sales. Effective as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, December 25, retail services must reduce their capacity to 50 per cent. large retail locations are required to limit their capacity to 25 per cent capacity. Large retail locations are defined as retailers with a square footage larger than 20,000 square feet.
With the first vaccines arriving in Saskatchewan mid-week, Moe said, “This is a bitter pill, for myself and individuals. I know it's a bitter pill for Saskatchewan people, and Saskatchewan families. I was hopeful. I was hopeful that we were going to reduce the curve even more, reduce the rate of infection even more than we have. We haven't been able to do that.
He added, “It’s really unfortunate for those who wanted to visit someone in a long-term care home.”
Asked if this set of measures are significant, Moe replied, “These are significant measures, in particulary if you’re an individual working at a casino, for example, where you’re likely going to take a break from your work for some period of time.
As for whether the measures brought in late November are making a difference, Moe said, “The measures that we brought in on November 27 are effective. One can argue whether they were effective enough, was effective or how effective they are, but they are effective. Most certainly very effective, when you compare where we are today, in stopping the rate of increase of COVID-19 infections here, in the province, to where the modeling said we could be if we had not made the moves that we did on November the 27th.
“So, I think the measures have been successful, and. But we do need to push our numbers down even more.”
He pointed to Saskatchewan’s 7-day rolling average having plateaued. Indeed, since Nov. 30, Saskatchewan’s 7-day average has remained flat, in a ranged between 260 and 288.3 average new cases per day. Prior to that, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 26, Saskatchewan was seeing an exponential growth curve, with the 7-day average new cases doubling roughly every 14 days.
That being said, Saskatchewan has now had 91 deaths related to COVID-19.
Regarding the plateauing, Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said it’s “kind of, it's a cup half empty half full.
“So on the one hand, as we looked at the modeling, three weeks ago, we certainly are not seeing, you know, 400, 500 cases a day. And if we were to go in that direction, for example, if we're not careful on the holidays, we start going in that direction, possibly, we will have to put in even more restrictive measures.”
He added, “That may still happen, because you have to remember this pandemic is not going to end till at least May, June, then hopefully they will have a greater proportion of the most vulnerable vaccinated. Summer will be here and you'll start to come out of it. So, this is something that would require your constant attention until at least May. You know sometimes being more restricted, something's loosening up a bit, but that balance will have to continue at least, April, May.”
PHOTO: Premier Scott Moe, left, and Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab announced more COVID-19 public health restrictions on Dec. 14. Screen capture courtesy Government of Saskatchewan