SHA takes additional steps to increase supplies, limit spread of COVID-19

Despite low case numbers being reported in Saskatchewan, the provincial health authority isn’t taking its foot off the gas in its fight against COVID-19.

Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Sask. Health Authority (SHA), announced additional precautions for healthcare workers to be implemented as of Wednesday as part of the authority’s offensive strategy.

All healthcare workers at SHA facilities will have to have daily screening for symptoms and temperature checks. And all staff who work directly with patients and anyone moving through a care area will have to wear a procedure mask at all times while in the facility.

“These measures are about keeping our healthcare team safe and providing an additional layer of assurance to our patients, clients, and residents who may be worrying about asymptomatic workers who do not currently have symptoms but may have been exposed to the virus,” explained Livingstone.

Other provinces have had problems with COVID-19 getting into long-term care homes and some of the measures Livingstone said the authority is working toward will help to keep that from happening here.

Many staff work at more than one facility, particularly when it comes to those who work in long-term care. So Livingstone said, in the next week or so, the authority will come up with a plan to stop that from happening and keep workers only having hours at one facility, if possible.

Livingstone explained that it hadn’t happened before because it’s not a simple fix.

“People have guaranteed hours, they have work skill sets that might not be movable to other facilities. And we need to follow the right process to be able to do that.”

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a big issue during the pandemic. Livingstone said the authority believes it has about a month’s supply for all of its facilities and affiliates.

He said they have orders out for four to six times more PPE than normal and some has come in.

“Every day it changes with respect to what’s coming in and what’s not coming in. We’ve started to see a trickle of PPE come in from the federal government as per the allocations that they’re working on,” said Livingstone.

The health authority monitors usage and daily burn rates and he said the authority believes there is enough, even with the implementation of continuous masking protocols in SHA facilities.

The SHA has also partnered with the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) in hopes of finding a way to decontaminate and reuse N95 respiratory masks that normally are thrown away after each use.

There’s no number yet for how much the pandemic is costing the health authority.

Livingstone said the authority is tracking the spending. He talked about big costs like ordering PPE — that they’re not only ordering more, but the cost is higher because hospitals all over the world are trying to get their hands on some.

Livingstone said a lot of the cost of the pandemic will be dependent on how much of the action plan needs to be put in place and how quickly.

“As an example, the full operation of a field hospital would not be an insignificant cost because of the equipment and the other services that would have to be put in that facility.”

Livingstone made a point of mentioning that the numbers in Saskatchewan are good, but the key to it is for people to continue obeying the measures already in place, such as hand-washing, physical distancing, self-isolating, limits on the size of gatherings, and refraining from visiting hospitals and long-term care facilities.

The SHA’s what-if scenarios, released April 8, remain the same as before, according to Livingstone.

The authority has increased its capacity for contact tracing to more than 250 full-time equivalent staff, well above the normal capacity of 62. Its plans call for more than 400 such employees if the need arises.

More locations in the province will be doing COVID laboratory testing to improve the turnaround speed of tests. Meadow Lake and Prince Albert have joined Regina and Saskatoon as testing locales, with more centres to come in the coming days.
Seven communities in Saskatchewan — Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Weyburn and Indian Head — now have assessment and treatment sites.

Livingstone was asked about the SHA’s reaction to a drive-in Easter church service that was planned in Nipawin, similar to one that was planned for Strasbourg.

He said members of the public raised concerns about the gathering because it exceeded the 10-person maximum put in place by the public health order. Livingstone said a public health inspector spoke to organizers and suggested, after finding out there weren’t any plans to protect people from gathering outside of their vehicles, that the event be cancelled.