Sask. doctors pen letter to government, ask for more to be done on the COVID front

Some medical health officers (MHO) in Saskatchewan are teaming up to ask the provincial government to do more to address challenges caused by COVID-19.

MHOs are designated by the Ministry of Health to provide assessments of the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic while providing recommendations to provincial and local governments, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the public.

In total, 21 MHOs signed off on the open letter addressed to Health Minister Paul Merriman.

The letter states this is the second time since Aug. 26 they have chosen to write to the government, after voicing concerns and recommendations to prevent surging cases for many weeks before the government put some of the measures into place.

“We indicated formally, in writing, the public health measures that were necessary to avoid the surge we are now experiencing,” the letter read. “While some of these measures were ultimately adopted in recent weeks, the delay has resulted in a much larger fourth wave, which will therefore require a return to stronger restrictions to bring it under control.

“Without further action, it is highly likely that we will face even higher rates of hospitalization in coming weeks and risk health system collapse, as well as many more preventable deaths.”

The letter dated Oct. 21 showcased a few recommendations made by the MHOs, all without going into a full lockdown or prompting school closures like last year.

The first recommendation was focused on gathering restrictions.

“Move back to a similar stage as step one in the Saskatchewan Re-Open strategy for a 28-day period (with some modifications for the fully immunized population) as it has been shown to be effective in recent modelling,” the letter read.

It suggested reducing capacity by 25 per cent for weddings and places of worship while not putting forward any further measures for places like gyms, restaurants or bars as they already require proof of vaccination.

The second recommendation expressed the desire for proof of vaccination to be required at more places, while no longer accepting negative tests as a substitute for not being vaccinated.

“In order to keep schools open, we need to make them safer. Proof of vaccination should be required for accessing in-person learning for children 12 years and older, and for households of those under 12 who cannot be immunized yet,” the letter read. “It should also be required for teachers and staff in all schools and daycare facilities.

“Facilities hosting youth sports/extracurricular activities for school-aged children should also require proof of vaccination for eligible participants, spectators, coaches, and volunteer staff.”

In the third recommendation, the letter touched on the government acknowledging the seriousness of the current state of the health-care system.

“If most people reduced the number of contacts and trips they made by even 50 per cent in the next while, this would have a huge impact,” the letter claimed. “Limit or avoid travel outside your home community, reduce or cancel activities that require contact with others for the next month and organizers of events that result in large groups gathering should consider cancelling them this month (and) work from home if you have the option.

“Everything we can do to decrease the amount of interaction and mixing that we do will help interrupt the chain of transmission and speed up the process of health system recovery while we wait for increased immunization coverage to increase our population level immunity.”

Lastly, the fourth and final recommendation asked for old measures that were presented by the MHOs — that were ignored — to be put in place.

“Capacity will need to be increased by expanding the number of contact tracers that take various roles in this important work,” the letter read. “Public reporting of COVID-19 information has been better with discussion of modeling data, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Ministry of Health need to agree on how to best report on this information.

“We understand that returning to these restrictions is not what our population wants, or what our leaders want to contemplate, but with the health system in crisis, the alternatives are much worse. Modeling throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2021 was very accurate in predicting the state we would be in this fall if restrictions were lifted too soon.”

Premier Scott Moe said Monday during his State of the Province address that there was no plans to add further restrictions in the province, indicating he did not wish to place further restrictions that would limit people’s personal freedoms.

You can read the letter here.