Return of Sask. COVID-19 restrictions unlikely following reopening: health minister

REGINA -

Barring a major change in the COVID-19 landscape in Saskatchewan, the province’s health minister said a return to major restrictions is unlikely.

“I don’t think we look at going at restrictions anymore, just because of our vaccine. The only thing that would ever change something like that is if there was a variant that came out that was vaccine resilient,” Minister Paul Merriman said, in an interview with CTV Morning Live Regina on Tuesday.

Merriman took over the province’s health portfolio in November – just as cases began trending upwards in Saskatchewan.

He said while there are small tweaks that could have been made to the province’s pandemic response, he would not change the overall handling of COVID-19 over the past 16 months.

“You look back and you say some things, ‘okay well we would have done that maybe a little bit differently, or we would have changed that specific restriction,” Minister Paul Merriman said, in an interview with CTV Morning Live Regina on Tuesday.

“But I think we were very surgical about it, especially in Regina when we had the outbreak of the variants of concern.”

When asked about potential spread of the Delta variant in Saskatchewan, Merriman said he wants to make sure people know that “COVID isn’t over.”

“We want to push that message because people think it’s done. There’s a kind of celebratory feeling, masks are off, restaurants are back open, businesses are finding their stride,” he said.

Merriman pointed to the recent outbreak on Hatchet Lake First Nation as an example of how quickly case numbers can rise.

The Far North East 1 sub-zone – which includes Hatchet Lake – currently accounts for 108 of Saskatchewan’s 397 active cases.

“People still need to be vigilant when it comes to what they’re doing,” Merriman added.

With hospitalization numbers trending down steadily after reaching their peak in February, Merriman said the state of Saskatchewan hospitals is good.

As of Monday, 57 Saskatchewan residents are currently in hospital related to the disease, with nine in ICU as of July 12.

Merriman attributes that drop to the uptake of vaccines.

“People are getting those vaccines, and I want to encourage them to keep doing that because it is critically important that we’ve always wanted to protect our healthcare system, that was our primary goal,” he said.

In the 12-plus age group, 73 per cent have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 55 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Moving forward, the province will be looking to address some of the lasting effects of the pandemic, including a backlog of surgeries and an increase in mental health and addictions issues.