'Trust yourself': Sask. premier won't implement restrictions despite top doctor's recommendations for smaller gatherings
'Trust yourself': Sask. premier won't implement restrictions despite top doctor's recommendations for smaller gatherings
Saskatchewan’s premier says implementing recommendations or restrictions on gathering sizes would not be effective in decreasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, despite advice from the province’s top doctor.
Dr. Saqib Shahab said a 10 person gathering limit “could help”, but that not even 10 people should be meeting at this point in Saskatchewan’s wave of new Omicron cases. He recommended residents “hunker down” for two to four weeks and minimize gatherings and non-essential contact. He also recommended against non-essential travel between communities in the province, to prevent a further surge in cases.
Premier Scott Moe said that preventative measures are not the answer to a surge in new cases or hospitalizations that could follow.
“Measures don’t seem to be having any impact on the case numbers in [other] jurisdictions,” Moe said. “We don’t see [restrictions] being effective in other places and we do see what we’re doing being quite effective.”
But Dr. Shahab doubled down on his recommendations Wednesday, saying restricting gatherings would help control new COVID-19 cases.
“Right now I'm saying because we are doing more, children are at school, many people are back at work I'm saying very clearly minimize your non-school, non-work contacts,” Shahab said. “Minimize getting together with friends and family. Try not to have that gathering, push that back towards March, April because I think that can only help right now.”
Health officials are preparing Saskatchewan’s health-care system for a “surge” in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and ICU admissions. According to Shahab, Saskatchewan trends behind other Canadian provinces by roughly two to four weeks when it comes to new cases and hospitalizations.
Health-care staffing continues to cause concern for the Saskatchewan government. According to health officials, two to four per cent of health authority staff are absent from work on any given day due to COVID-19 isolation protocol.
When asked about Shahab’s recommendations on gatherings, Moe said Saskatchewan residents are still gathering, but seem to be gathering less. Moe said there are consequences to limiting gatherings and other restrictions.
When asked who Saskatchewan people should trust, the premier said residents should “trust themselves” and conduct personal risk assessments.
Four children were killed and one man is missing after they were swept away by the tide while fishing in Portneuf-sur-Mer, a riverside community in Quebec's Côte-Nord region.
The U.S. Ambassador to Canada says America 'absolutely wants to have it both ways' when it comes to fighting climate change while pursuing fossil fuel projects.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Pope Francis warned the Vatican's missionary fundraisers on Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship.
Canada is open to the idea of including a requirement to cut back on the production of plastic in a new global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
With two Federal by-elections around the corner in Manitoba, party leaders hit the campaign trail to appeal to voters in Portage-Lisgar and Winnipeg South Centre.
It's the start of a new season at Moraine Lake and for the first time, you will have to take a shuttle bus to access the famous landmark -- no matter how early you're willing to show up.
Four children were killed and one man is missing after they were swept away by the tide while fishing in Portneuf-sur-Mer, a riverside community in Quebec's Côte-Nord region.
Toronto police say the five suspects involved in a stabbing at Kennedy Station Friday night that left a man in critical condition are between the ages of 12 and 15 years old.
Four children were killed and one man is missing after they were swept away by the tide while fishing in Portneuf-sur-Mer, a riverside community in Quebec's Côte-Nord region.
Four children were killed and one man is missing after they were swept away by the tide while fishing in Portneuf-sur-Mer, a riverside community in Quebec's Côte-Nord region.
Police are investigating the "suspicious death" of a man discovered shot dead in downtown Montreal Saturday. According to the SPVM, a man was found around 7:50 a.m. inside an apartment on Saint-Catherine and Beaudry Streets, in Montreal's Gay Village.
A wildfire burning out of control on northern Vancouver Island is now estimated to cover 208 hectares, or just over two square kilometres, provincial wildfire officials said Friday.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
A Halifax-area wildfire that forced thousands of residents from their homes over the past week is 85 per cent contained and no longer spreading, officials said Saturday morning.
Evacuees at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena in Barrington, N.S., are out of the fire zone but now face their own battle — how to cope with so much uncertainty, and what lies ahead.
A Sudbury teacher accused of having sex with a student has been found guilty of professional misconduct by the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers.
A late spring heat wave is prompting the Region of Waterloo to remind residents of the need to conserve water when possible as the annual water conservation bylaw takes effect.
