At their latest COVID-19 news conference on Tuesday, the province announced what they describe as a one-month slowdown to try and curb the increase in COVID-19.
The latest restrictions come into effect at 12:01 am Thursday and include the following:
Mandatory masking is now province-wide in all indoor public spaces.
Visitation to all long-term care facilities and personal care homes will be suspended, with the exception of compassionate reasons as per the current family visitation policy. This is in addition to protections already in place, including mandatory masking of all staff, staff cohorting and symptom screening prior to shift.
Maximum indoor private gathering sizes are being reduced to five, down from 10. This includes in the home or in buildings located on private property such as garages or sheds. Support personnel such therapists, nursing staff) and tradespersons (ie. housekeeper, plumber) are permitted though they should maintain two metre distancing and be masked during service provision. Health care workers not able to maintain physical distancing when providing home care services must wear appropriate PPE.
Any private gathering of more than five people must occur in a public venue (ie. restaurant, community hall), abiding by all applicable guidelines of physical distancing, food service, masking, etc.
Outdoor private gatherings remain at 30 people maximum, but only if physical distancing of two metres can be maintained at all times.
The province is recommending people work from home as much as possible.
As well, the Ministry of Health is consulting with the hospitality industry (restaurants, bars, casinos,) to determine how the guidelines, taken seriously by many, can be enhanced to reduce COVID-19 transmission. They will also be consulting with athletic organizations and gyms to determine how the guidelines can be enhanced, and will be consulting with faith leaders on worship services as well.
One update to the Re-Open guidelines is that entertainment transportation such as party buses, group limousines and recreational vehicles are no longer permitted.
The steps stay in effect to Dec. 17 at which time they will be reviewed. The premier pointed to the increase in cases as justifying the new measures.
“Our numbers in this province are not good and the trend is in the wrong direction,” said Premier Scott Moe at the news conference in Regina.
He called what the province is doing a slowdown, not a lockdown.
“This is not a lockdown. This is a slowdown. A significant one month slowdown. So let’s slow down the amount of activities that are occurring outside of our home. Let’s slow down and reduce our number of contacts. And let’s look for reasons to stay home... this one month slowdown is how we will slow the spread of this virus so that hopefully we can begin to relax some of these decisions by Christmas and the holiday season. That remains to be seen.”
Saskatchewan chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab noted there were 489 new cases this week of COVID-19. He said they were in “a sustained wave” and noted that every confirmed case had 5-8 close contacts.
He recommended minimizing close contacts on day to day activities, and said “this pace is not sustainable, we need to turn this around.” He said the province was trending around 150-200 cases a day.
Dr. Shahab also said mask use alone is not enough — he said people needed to “stay home as much as we can, certainly stay home when you are unwell,” and to maintain physical distancing.
