Sask. NDP calling for further measures to address long-term care outbreaks
The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the provincial government to take further action as seven long-term care homes in Regina are dealing with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 outbreaks.
On Monday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority said four homes have confirmed outbreaks while three others have suspected outbreaks.
The SHA said cases involve staff and residents who are vaccinated and unvaccinated.
On Tuesday, NDP leader Ryan Meili and MLA Matt Love announced three measures they would like to see enacted by the province. They include mandatory vaccination for all staff in long-term care and throughout the health care system, mass testing in long-term care homes and developing a third dose plan for seniors and staff in long-term care homes.
The SHA confirmed that it is not mandatory for long-term care staff to be vaccinated during a press conference on Monday, but did not say why.
“We do believe that the vast majority of healthcare staff are stepping up, but there’s some of them who haven’t gotten there yet and we need to make sure that anyone who’s got patient contact, resident contact, is doubly vaccinated,” Meili said. “We need [the government] to be calling people directly who aren’t vaccinated and say ‘what’s in the way, how can we help you get this vaccine, how can we answer your questions?’”
CTV News has reached out to the province for comment and will update this article when a response is received.
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