Sask. government transfers COVID-19 management to Provincial Emergency Operations Centre

REGINA -

The Government of Saskatchewan reported Thursday that the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre will assume operational, planning, logistical and administrative responsibilities of the fight against COVID-19.

According to a news release, the Provincial Command is being activated via the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) to assume emergency management response to COVID-19.

The PEOC will be responsible for providing COVID-19 information to the public, and will “establish normalized briefings through media availability,” according to the province. It will also manage staffing across the provincial healthcare system and deploy necessary supports.

“This is being done to better coordinate the pandemic response between government ministries and our healthcare delivery,” Premier Moe said Thursday.

A joint management team is meant to ensure one source of information and coordinated decision-making. The team will consist of Marlo Pritchard, president of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, Scott Livingstone, chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Max Hendricks, deputy Minister of Health.

Provincial Command will be operational through the duration of the emergency order, which has been in place since Sept. 13.

Saskatchewan reported the highest rate of hospitalization and ICU admission to date since the beginning of the pandemic. As of Wednesday, a record 356 patients are receiving hospital care due to COVID-19; 76 of those individuals are being treated in the intensive care unit.

Saskatchewan, as it reports the highest case, death and hospitalization rates in the country, is one of only two Canadian provinces going into the Thanksgiving weekend with no pandemic-related restrictions.

The official opposition said these changes from the government will not help expand ICU capacity.

“This is a government that has chosen not to act, and once again has chosen to distract,” NDP leader Ryan Meili said.

One public policy professor likes the approach, saying Saskatchewan needs to have a process that depoliticizes pandemic decisions.

“They are seen as nonpartisan and sort of emergency oriented that their job is to solve the problem today tomorrow and the next day whereas governments are looking at next month, next year and the following decade,” Ken Coates, research chair at the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy said.

The roles of the premier and health minister are not expected to change and Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer will still make public health recommendations.