REGINA — Premier Scott Moe held a COVID-19 update on Thursday, where he stated that the province is not currently planning to introduce more public health restrictions to fight the fourth wave.
As both case numbers and hospitalizations continued to rise, several voices have called for the implementation of gathering restrictions across the province, leading into the Thanksgiving weekend, including the Saskatchewan Medical Association, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses.
The City of Saskatoon also put in a request for localized gathering limits to be introduced, which was denied by the provincial government earlier this week.
Within the past week, Saskatchewan has reached max capacity in ICUs across the province almost daily, with 78 individuals currently in intensive care as of Thursday.
Service slowdowns in the health care sector have increased ICU capacity to 130 beds with 80 available to COVID patients, said Moe, and officials are reviewing whether further shuffles can increase capacity to 175 beds.
The premier said that while more widespread circuit-breaker options, like gathering limits, are not off the table, officials are not considering them now because the majority of Sask. residents are vaccinated.
“We’re not going to be implementing broad-based restrictions on 80-some per cent of the population that has gone out and gotten their first shot, or the over 70 per cent that are fully vaccinated,” said Moe.
When asked how he feels about Saskatchewan currently holding the lowest rate of vaccination in the country, Moe pointed to lower rates in some U.S. states as comparison.
He also noted that the province has seen a spike in vaccination delivery since the proof of vaccination mandate came into effect on Oct. 1. and said once again the focus is on following the long-term plan in place.
Moe also condemned individuals still refusing vaccination and spreading anti-vaccine sentiments, saying that residents should be careful about potential misinformation being shared.
“Believing in and spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories is actually contributing to people dying from COVID, by keeping them from getting vaccinated,” said Moe.
The premier then offered some stern words for those who continue to refuse vaccination.
“We understand that there are some, mostly unvaccinated, folks that don’t like the policy we have put in place and feel that it is infringing on their rights,“said Moe.
“But I would say that with 80 per cent of our COVID hospitalizations being people that are unvaccinated, that the choice of not being vaccinated is infringing on people's rights to access health care in this province.”
Saskatchewan is one of only two provinces in the country currently without any type of gathering restriction in place.
NDP say Premier Moe not doing enough
Opposition leader Ryan Meili issued a statement following Moe’s conference, denouncing the province’s methods and claiming not enough is being done to flatten the curve of transmission.
Meili said that reallocating COVID responsibility from the Ministry of Health to a joint command including the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency will not be enough to support overworked health care staff or reduce COVID numbers.
“Shifting responsibility for COVID-19 from one bureaucracy to another won’t do anything to add nurses and doctors to our overstretched ICUs,” said Meili.
Meili said the province is primed to continue breaking COVID records in the coming weeks, especially as no new measures have been announced for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
“This government clearly recognizes the need to bench [Health Minister] Paul Merriman for his absolutely failed response to the pandemic,” said Meili.
The Sask NDP have called for Merriman’s resignation several times in the past weeks, citing concern over a lack of action from the minister.
