Sask. doctors advising to keep Thanksgiving gatherings small, outside

Doctors across the province have some advice to stay healthy and safe this Thanksgiving long weekend.

At Thursday’s Saskatchewan Health Authority physicians’ town hall, medical health officer Dr. Johnmark Opondo offered up some tips to avoid the province’s staggering COVID-19 numbers from getting any worse.

“It is important for us to really look at even taking it on our own to restrict our personal and public gatherings,” Opondo said. “It is really recommended as we go into this Thanksgiving long weekend (that) we really limit our contacts to our single households.

“We really need to keep our small bubble consistent.”

Opondo said doctors’ greatest concern for household transmission are social gatherings among unvaccinated people, which he said is driving this pandemic.

Doctors are also asking people to take extra precautions.

“Although indoor and outdoor gatherings are permitted at present beyond single households, it doesn’t mean they are safe,” Opondo said. “If we are not parsimonious in the amount of visitors we have in our house … it is really going to be another very bad accelerant to an already bad situation.”

Opondo said even though there are masking and proof of vaccination mandates in place, extra measures can be taken to ensure new COVID-19 cases don’t spike after Thanksgiving.

On Friday, Saskatchewan added 576 new cases, including 147 cases in kids under 12. In Ontario, a province with more than 12 times the population than Saskatchewan’s, added 573 new cases.

Saskatchewan’s case rate over the last seven days leads all provinces with 274 cases per 100,000 population. Alberta is the next closest with a case rate of 192.

Saskatchewan also leads the country in death rate over the past seven days, as well as having the least vaccinated population with just over 69 per cent of people having received one dose.