It was fun while it lasted.
The provincial government brought back some COVID-19 measures last Thursday, a little more than two months after the last pandemic measures were lifted in this province.
We now have to wear masks again when we’re at indoor public places, and starting Oct. 1, we’ll have to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test to access most non-essential public settings, ranging from our favourite restaurants to most retail stores to hockey games.
When the last of the pandemic restrictions were lifted on July 11, I cheered. So did most people, at least in the southeast. Hindsight says there were a few errors in the province’s decision; for example, because the restrictions were completely finished, people didn’t have to self-isolate any longer if they were diagnosed with COVID.
But we could go out and gather in crowds and shake hands and hug, and enjoy the “Saskatchewan summer.”
The COVID case numbers were quite low for the first few weeks; most sub-zones were under 10 active cases. On many days, the majority of cases were in the far north.
But we saw the numbers start to creep up in early August, and some troubling trends started to emerge as the month went along. While Premier Scott Moe said he wouldn’t bring back restrictions, you had to expect the government would do something, especially due to the surging number of people in hospital and in the intensive care units.
So we’re back to wearing masks. In just over a week, if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not going to be able to enjoy the same opportunities as those who have received their two doses.
I don’t know if Premier Moe would want a mulligan for the past few weeks. It had to be difficult for him to enact any public health measures, because he was so proud to be the first premier in the country to remove all the pandemic restrictions. There were no more daily COVID updates posted to the website. If you wanted to see the numbers, you had to track them down on the COVID dashboard. No more weekly or twice a week COVID news conferences.
The past two months were as close to normal as we’ve seen since March 11, 2020, when the first restrictions were introduced.
Hindsight says the government should have used a different barometer for lifting restrictions earlier this year. It should have stipulated that 70 per cent, or even 75 or 80 per cent, needed to be fully vaccinated, rather than 70 per cent having their first dose.
Once we hit that 70 per cent first dose target in late June, and the restrictions were lifted July 11, a lot of people seemed to take a “why bother?” attitude towards vaccination. I had numerous reasons why I took the vaccine; I’ll admit that being able to enjoy activities again was one of them.
Hindsight also suggests he should have been quicker to reintroduce restrictions, once the number of people in hospital and in intensive care units surged.
Moe’s partisan critics will tell you that he thought COVID was over, but he never thought that or said that. We know COVID is going to be around for a long time, even once it’s no longer classified as a pandemic.
For those who could have been vaccinated but elected not to, they’ll complain when Oct. 1 rolls around and they can’t enjoy the activities they’re accustomed to. Hopefully, they’ll have the decency and integrity to not take it out on staff members and volunteers for whom checking vaccine records will suddenly become part of their duties.
Thankfully, we didn’t see a lot of spread in outdoor activities, at least not in the southeast. Most of the outbreaks we’ve seen have been limited to private indoor gatherings, businesses, schools and other indoor sites.
We didn’t see a rash of cases from the Lockdown End Party, the Estevan Rodeo, the Estevan Motor Speedway programs or other large outdoor gatherings. The Saskatchewan Roughriders home opener in August resulted in nine cases, at least at the stadium.
If we continue to be in a pandemic situation next spring, with waves and spikes in cases and restrictions, hopefully the government remembers the number of cases from outdoor activities.
The government says that they’ll re-evaluate the mask mandate in late October. I’m not holding out hope that it will be lifted.
I don’t think you’ll see a return to restrictions like what we saw last winter.
But for an indefinite period, measures will be part of our life again.
