Sask. makes masks mandatory in indoor places in Regina, Saskatoon and P.A.

Saskatchewan is making masks mandatory in indoor public places in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

“We’ve heard from businesses that some required a mask and some didn’t and this really does level the playing field,” Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said during a COVID-19 update Tuesday.

“Just take out a mask and put it on. It’s a simple gesture that says, ‘I’m protecting you because a lot of businesses have been wearing masks to protect you.’ ”

The amended health order is to take effect Friday at 12:01 a.m., and is to be in place for 28 days. After that, the order will be reviewed by Shahab.

He said the three cities were chosen because of the high risk of transmission in the areas.

Since the end of September, the number of cases in the Saskatoon area has increased from 393 to 874, the caseload in the northern area of the province has gone from 277 to 712, and the number of cases in the Regina area has increased from 184 to 439.

In another move, public health is reducing the maximum allowable size of indoor gatherings in home settings from 15 to 10.

The provincial government made the announcements Tuesday while also reporting 81 new cases of COVID-19, the second-highest single-day total yet in Saskatchewan. It was the province’s 11th straight day with at least 54 new cases.

Shahab said these new peaks are different from anything we’ve seen in the province up to now.

“I would argue this is really our first true wave and is really our first true test as a province in terms of actually turning this thing around,” Shahab said. “I think this needs all of us to come together and practise all these layers of protection more consistently.”

Mandatory masks

All residents of Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert will have to wear non-medical masks when indoors in public places.

The list of those places includes businesses, health-care facilities, places of worship, gyms or places where events are held.

Premier Scott Moe says it will be up to the people to comply with the mask policy.

“We’re not going to have a bunch of COVID cops that are out travelling across the province enforcing mask use in our public places. This is about compliance and this is about the onus being on us as individuals to do the right thing and wear masks in public spaces in these three centres,” Moe said.

“The onus is not on the business owner or the operator of the facility to enforce (it).”

The new guidelines don’t apply to workplaces to which the public doesn’t have access, private homes, private areas at care homes, and public indoor areas when individuals are eating or drinking while seating in designated areas.

Children aged two and under, anyone who is unconscious or incapacitated, and people who are engaged in physical exercise won’t have to wear masks.

“Enforcement is permitted under the Public Health Act; however, compliance through education is the primary preference of public health,” said a media release from the Ministry of Health.

“Public health will closely monitor compliance and encourage all individuals, businesses and organizations to abide by the masking order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”

While the order applies to Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert, the ministry also encouraged residents of all communities to wear masks in public to help control the spread of the virus.

“We are at a little bit of a fork in the roads here in Saskatchewan,” Moe said. “We’re at numbers that Manitoba had just two or three weeks ago. Let’s take a different path.

“Let’s re-evaluate what we’re doing each and every day and let’s not allow these numbers to get up to much higher — 100, 150 a day. Let’s take a different path and get these numbers back down to 10, 20 or 30 a day to ensure our community infection rate is low, thereby keeping our schools, our long-term care centres, our community safe and keeping our families safe.

“There is an opportunity for us to do something quite different here but we all need to do it. We all need to take our personal responsibility very seriously. I don’t like wearing a mask any more than anyone else but I am going to do it to keep those around me and those I care about safe.”

Gathering sizes shrinking

The ministry also reduced the maximum size of private gatherings in homes to 10, which includes members of the household who usually live at the residence.

The limit also covers garages or other buildings on the property. Weddings, religious gatherings and funerals also must follow the 10-person limit.

“If you are planning any gathering larger than 10, you must host the gathering in a public venue (restaurant, banquet hall, etc.) and abide by the guidelines that apply to that location,” the ministry said.

The ministry’s release also said residents should return to previous practices such as identifying a single member of the household to do grocery shopping or to run errands, and to limit those errands to once a week.

“None of these measures by themselves are going to prevent the spread of COVID-19 but all of them together will,” Moe said. “We’ve reduced our case numbers in this province before and I know we’ll do it again.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray