Sask. declines to limit gatherings despite warning from chief medical health officer

Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab sounded the proverbial Omicron alarm on Thursday afternoon, telling media that people in the province should not see anyone outside their household indoors unless it was to work or attend school.

"We need to do everything to blunt the wave. This is not the time for any gatherings at all. You should do what is essential, which means going to work and going to school. But otherwise not having any contact with anyone outside your household," Shahab said Thursday.

Shahab's recommendation has not manifested in the form of any new provincial health orders. He said Thursday that any decisions are up to the government.

The province's orders do not limit gatherings in public or private, despite modelling released by Shahab on Dec. 21 that suggested policies reducing population mixing could limit the spread of the more transmissible variant.

That modelling has proven to be an underestimate. It projected daily cases would surpass 300 by Jan. 20 without measures. On Thursday, cases confirmed through PCR testing were 913 in the province, more than triple what the model had predicted as a high-end total.

These numbers do not include people who tested positive on a self-administered rapid test but did not go in to confirm the result with a PCR test. The province recently recommended that asymptomatic people who have a positive rapid test stay home, assume they have COVID-19 and self-isolate, rather than getting a PCR test to confirm it.

The Dec. 21 modelling was based on Omicron spread having a doubling rate of 5.2 days. Ontario's science table released data more than a week before Saskatchewan's model which suggested Omicron's doubling time was just three days.

On Dec. 23, Premier Scott Moe posted a video to social media suggesting the government could implement gathering limits in days ahead.

If "serious cases and hospitalizations remain low and manageable," the government wouldn't impose measures that would "shut down activities, restrict businesses and take away your personal freedoms," he said.

During a Dec. 30 news conference, he ruled the possibility of gathering limits out.

"We do need to learn how to live with COVID," Moe said. "We can't lock down our communities and our community events and our businesses forever."

Sask. officials 'watching' other provinces 

Moe and Shahab have consistently said they are watching other jurisdictions to see how Omicron impacts health care. The difficulty with comparing other provinces to Saskatchewan is that every other province has some form of restrictions on public or private gatherings.

For example, Alberta has limited private gathering sizes. Quebec has a 10 p.m. curfew and limited private indoor gatherings to six people. Ontario has shut down indoor dining and gyms and moved schools online until Jan. 17. 

Moe said the province will be watching hospitalizations and ICU admissions. He has said in the past that his government makes decisions to protect health-care capacity.

The premier has said Omicron is "much more contagious," but appears to be "milder" than other COVID-19 strains.

There were 100 people in Saskatchewan hospitals with COVID-19 on Thursday, down from 130 one month ago. It is not yet known how many of the new cases this week could end up needing care in a hospital in a few weeks.

"One single ill-planned and not recommended event can result in thousands of cases which once they impact people who are unvaccinated, older, frail, immunocompromised will lead to hospitalizations," Shahab said Thursday.

"Omicron is less severe but it is by no means something we should disregard."

When asked Thursday for a response to Shahab's recommendation that people not gather or mix, the province responded with a statement.

"As the premier has stated, he is not ruling out new measures in the coming days if required."

The province has not indicated what would trigger new measures. Moe did not address the media or public this week.

Sask. back in school, while other provinces delay return

The return to schools is another example of Saskatchewan zigging when other provinces are zagging.

Saskatchewan was the only province to fully return to in-person classes this week.

The move was criticized by the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF), the provincial Opposition and some parents.

The STF called for a two-day delay of the return so divisions could make adjustments to try to limit spread.

The Opposition NDP said supports for schools were insufficient and called for N95 masks for staff and students, improvements to ventilation in schools, and holding vaccination clinics in schools.

Provincial Minister of Education Dustin Duncan said Wednesday that the province "worked very closely" with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) on the return to school.

"There was certainly no interest that was expressed to extend the holiday break," Duncan said.

But on Thursday, SSBA president Shawn Davidson he was not aware a delay was on the table.

"There was never any indication given to us from the government that they were contemplating responding to that request [to delay classes]," he said.

Davidson said the SSBA was not lobbying for the return to schools to be delayed, but that it wants the government to restart its Education Response Planning Team. The team — composed of government ministries and educational sector partners that met regularly to discuss pandemic response — disbanded in July.

Duncan said Wednesday that parents should expect "disruptions," with teachers who may have to isolate and classrooms that may need to move online.

But he said schools should be "the first to open and the last to close."

Davidson said school divisions need the government to handle contact tracing.

"School divisions have neither the human resources nor necessarily the expertise to really do all of that work," Davidson said. "We've been helping with it for quite some time now, but really we do have some capacity challenges there."

In the Regina Public School Division, there were 53 cases reported across 25 K-12 schools on Thursday.