Meili calls on Reiter to explain communication issues in COVID-19 outbreaks

Saskatchewan’s health minister acknowledged Monday there have been gaps in communication involving recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the province.

Jim Reiter was asked during a conference call about the delays experienced in reporting an outbreak in Lloydminster.

“Obviously we would have liked this to be handled in a more timely manner,” Reiter replied, noting evaluations must be done to examine the flow of information between different levels in the ministry.

“I think we’ve accomplished that,” he added. “I think (the outbreak at Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital) is a good example. When we were made aware of that, within hours, the public was informed.

“Could we have done better in this case? Yeah, I think absolutely we could have.”

Earlier Monday, NDP Leader Ryan Meili questioned why there was a delay between the time the Saskatchewan Health Authority told the Ministry of Health about the outbreak in Lloydminster and the time that news was shared with residents.

“The mayor himself didn’t find out except by learning it from the news,” Meili said. “The premier didn’t find out until that day — so what’s going on?”

According to the NDP, the SHA told the ministry on either April 26 or April 27 there was an outbreak in Lloydminster but the public wasn’t told until April 29.

Reiter said the information about the outbreak was sent by the SHA to the Ministry of Health on the evening of April 27 and forwarded to the office of the chief medical health officer. Reiter said there then would have been consultation between the doctors before the information was passed on to other ministry officials.

Reiter said he found out about the outbreak late in the evening of April 28 and he shared the details with Premier Scott Moe and executive council early on April 29.

Reiter noted he wants changes made within the ministry “so that everybody’s communicating more quickly.”

Meili also questioned why the public was told an outbreak in La Loche was under control when an increasing number of cases in that area would suggest otherwise.

“It’s clearly not under control when we see dozens of cases now in the La Loche area as well into Patuanak, Beauval and other communities and now an outbreak in the hospital in Prince Albert,” Meili said.

Reiter claimed no one in the government said the outbreak in La Loche was under control. He suggested an SHA medical health officer was quoted in a media report as saying the outbreak was under control in terms of contact tracing being done in the community.

“I guess it depends what the NDP read into that,” Reiter said. “To the best of my knowledge, I don’t think the premier or I ever said (it was under control). We’ve been very concerned about La Loche from Day 1, but I think (Meili’s claim) is just extrapolating a little bit on what the doctor actually said.”

Meili said Reiter needs to “step up and make it clear what has gone wrong” with the government’s communication during the pandemic. For his part, Reiter was willing to accept some of the blame.

“The buck stops with the minister,” he said. “The entire operation is under my responsibility, so certainly I’ll accept some responsibility.”