Saskatchewan extends public health order until Jan. 31

Saskatchewan is maintaining the status quo with its public health order.

On Thursday, the provincial government announced it was extending the current public health order until Jan. 31 as the province continues to battle COVID-19.

“Governments can bring in all the measures they like,” Premier Scott Moe said during a conference call. “It’s ultimately the people that educate themselves as to what those measures are, adjust how they operate in their daily lives, and really adhere to those measures that makes the difference.

“Us as government, all of us across this province, can just be very appreciative of what Saskatchewan people have achieved over the course of the last two months in understanding what the measures are, and then also understanding that they need to adhere to them. And it’s working.”

The extension of the current order means masks will still be mandatory in all indoor public spaces including schools, and proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test will still be needed for people to gain access to certain establishments, businesses and event venues.

According to Moe, that latter requirement has resulted in 200,000 more vaccines being administered in the province since the policy was announced in the middle of September.

Moe reiterated his government likely should have acted earlier in implementing the current measures it now is praising for their effectiveness.

“In hindsight, that is something that I regret,” he said. “But most certainly, as we move forward, you’re seeing these very effective measures remain in place. And these very effective measures we would expect will prove to be just as effective as we find our way into the holiday season with these public health measures, plus a number of another initiatives that we just simply didn’t have in place last year.”

Those include vaccinations for everyone aged five and over, boosters for certain populations and monoclonal antibody treatments.

The public health order will be re-examined at the end of January. That will allow the government to see how the province does through the Christmas and Ukrainian Christmas seasons.

Moe noted Saskatchewan didn’t see a large increase in transmission over Thanksgiving, so health officials are confident that extending the current order will ensure there won’t be a spike over Christmas as well.

Come January, the measures could change or they could stay exactly the same.

“I won’t preclude what that conversation will look like in January,” Moe said. “We’ll look at what the numbers are at that point in time, not just our COVID numbers but what our vaccination numbers are (and) if we think there’s still an opportunity for us to push that vaccination rate along.

“But I would say (the public health order) has been effective thus far and that’s why it’s being extended out until January.”

Some physicians — including Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer — have said they would like to see people continue wearing their masks into March. That may very well happen.

“With respect to what may happen at the end of January with respect to maybe revising these measures with respect to continuing these measures or ultimately reducing these measures, that’s a decision that will be made later in January as we get close to that date,” Moe said.

“But I don’t think anyone should be under any illusions that these health measures would not be extended at that point in time. They are proving to be quite effective.”

The fourth wave of COVID is waning in Saskatchewan.

Since Oct. 25, active cases in the province have dropped by 61 per cent (from 2,538 to 993 as of Thursday) and hospitalizations are down 50 per cent (from 286 to 142 on Thursday).

In that same time frame, the total number of cases has increased by about five per cent (from 76,607 to 80,667) while the number of recoveries has gone up by more than seven per cent (from 73,242 to 78,759).

Case numbers and hospitalizations have declined, allowing the health-care system to resume some services that were cancelled at the peak of the fourth wave.

“This just shows that just those two measures — wearing a mask and having proof of vaccination or negative test — has made a remarkable difference,” Shahab said.

“We really hope that if we stay the course over December and January, with the extension of these measures, we’ll have a safe happy holiday season, we will enjoy everything we are enjoying right now — concerts, shows, exhibitions, getting together, going to restaurants — in a safer manner, and keep the numbers low and allow the health system to further show a complete recovery.”

The province continues to push vaccination as the best way for residents to protect themselves against COVID.

As of Thursday, more than 1.71 million doses of COVID vaccines had been administered in Saskatchewan and more than 830,000 people had received two doses.