Mandatory masks, lower limit on indoor gatherings among new COVID measures

Scott Moe was adamant Tuesday that Saskatchewan didn’t need another lockdown to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Instead, the premier and his government opted for what he called “a significant, one-month slowdown.”

Shortly after announcing 240 new cases in the province, the government introduced new measures it hopes will slow the spread of the virus.

Masks are now mandatory in all indoor public places across the province, indoor private gatherings are capped at five people, and visitation at long-term care and personal care homes has been eliminated other than for compassionate reasons.

The government also said party buses and similar modes of entertainment transportation were no longer permitted.

“Let’s slow down our amount of activity that is occurring outside of our home,” Moe said during a media conference. “Let’s slow down the amount of movement. Let’s slow down and reduce our number of contacts and let’s look for reasons to possibly stay home instead of reasons to go out.

“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 in time for the Christmas and holiday season. But that remains to be seen.”

The new measures are to take effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m., and will be in place until Dec. 17. At that point, they’ll be reviewed by the chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab.

Saskatchewan’s case numbers have increased in recent weeks, with 2,288 new cases being reported in November alone. The total number of cases in the province since March now stands at 5,422, with 2,055 of those considered active.

As of Tuesday, 71 people were in hospital, with 15 in intensive care.

Shahab noted every confirmed case has an average of five to eight close contacts so, as the case numbers increase, more and more investigation is required.

“The next two weeks are going to be critical,” he said. “We may peak higher than 200 and maybe 300, but if we start coming down in two or three weeks, that’s what we want to see. But if we keep trending up, there will be further difficult choices ahead of us.”

Asked why his government didn’t institute a complete lockdown — a “circuit-breaker,” as it has been termed — Moe said that would potentially have cost tens of thousands of people their jobs. He noted the province lost 70,000 jobs during its earlier lockdown before regaining 55,000 of those.

“Our goal is to bend the curve prior to Christmas and avoid an ultimate lockdown,” he said. “That is the goal and I think Saskatchewan people would expect their government to utilize every tool that we have in our toolbox to avoid a lockdown, to avoid a circuit-breaker lockdown. This is what we’re doing today.”

Moe added the government believes a slowdown will work, but added: “We may get to a lockdown in the days ahead.”

Making masks mandatory

Masks initially were mandatory only in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert, but the government expanded the list Friday to include all centres with more than 5,000 residents and other communities that were close to the three largest cities.

On Tuesday, every community fell under the public health order.

“Last week, we introduced one of the strongest mandatory masking policies in Western Canada,” Moe said. “It was a policy that covered 65 per cent of the population in the province.

“It was always discussed about how we would expand that to target areas in the rural areas that would require that as well. What we heard … was the policy we had put in place was confusing and we should keep it simple and expand that across the province. So we’ve listened to the people over the course of the last number of days.”

Doctors and nurses called for masks to be mandatory across Saskatchewan, but there are still people who say they won’t wear face coverings. Shahab is hopeful they’ll change their mind.

“If there’s consistent lack of compliance with mask use, enforcement can and should and will be considered,” he said. “But at this point, we’ve done well by everyone pulling together.

“We’ve done that well with physical distancing, we’ve done that well in the spring and through the summer and that must be the first approach that all of us practise.”

Indoor gatherings shrinking

Indoor private gatherings previously had been limited to 10 people. The limit includes get-togethers in homes or other buildings on private property such as garages or sheds.

Any private gatherings of five people or more must be held in a public venue like a restaurant or community hall.

According to the government, if a family comprises five or more people, visitors aren’t allowed in their home.

Support personnel like nurses or therapists and tradespeople are permitted, provided they maintain physical distance and wear masks.

The limit on outdoor private gatherings is 30 people.

Care home visitation

COVID has been detected in 20 long-term care and assisted living facilities in the province in recent weeks. Shahab said there have been 13 cases in care homes in the past month.

The government limited visitors to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic, but relaxed those restrictions. Now they’re back in place.

“We understand this is an extremely difficult measure for so many people, for our seniors and for their loved ones, especially as we enter this holiday time of year,” Moe said. “But we also know that there is one thing worse than not allowing visitors into our long-term care centres and that is allowing COVID into our long-term care centres.”

Other measures

The government recommended people work from home — or continue to do so — if it’s feasible.

The Ministry of Health will be consulting with restaurants, bars, casinos and other businesses to discuss guidelines and their enforcement.

As well, the ministry will be talking with athletic organizations, gyms and faith leaders to ensure guidelines that currently are in place “can be enhanced to ensure that the necessary measures are being taken to reduce COVID-19 transmission.”

Moe said decisions will be made in those areas within the next week.

“We are going to work very rapidly (and) very hard with the leadership in each of these organizations to take their suggestions on how they can operate in a more safe manner for the days and weeks ahead,” he said. “But don’t think that there isn’t going to be some changes in each of these sectors.”

NDP responds to new measures

NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat issued a media release in response to the government’s announcement.

In the statement, Mowat said the government had back-tracked on its previous measures and that lack of consistency was “disruptive.”

To Mowat, the government’s suggestion that it will continue to consider more measures was not helpful.

“The people of Saskatchewan are looking for a serious path forward,” she said. “Banning hookah lounges and party buses will not have the impact that we need at this crucial moment.

“The lack of action today has put Saskatchewan at higher risk of more illness, more deaths, and longer-term economic damage. We need concrete action to contain the second wave and prevent a long-term shutdown of our economy.”