City of Saskatoon postpones return to work plan as COVID numbers increase

A plan to bring workers back to city hall in Saskatoon is being put on the back burner after a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Pamela Goulden-McLeod, the city's director of emergency management, said the plan to bring workers back to the office starting Sept. 1 is no longer viable.

"We made the decision to return staff to the workplace back around July 11 and 12 when the public health orders were lifted," she told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

"The situation was significantly different than what it is right now."

On Sunday, Saskatoon saw 50 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the known active case total to 352. Goulden-McLeod said the new cases are considerably higher than July, when there were only roughly 60 active cases in the city.

"There's a high risk that COVID transmission is not controlled," she said. 

"So we really have to look at what we do to ensure the continuity of services for the residents of Saskatoon."

Due to the hands-on nature of many jobs at the city, Goulden-McLeod estimates roughly 75 per cent of city workers have worked in-person since the pandemic began — from police to road crews to water treatment workers.

Across the country, many major cities are considering bringing in measures to battle COVID-19, including vaccine mandates for employees. Goulden-McLeod said the city isn't currently pursuing that option, but that nothing is off the table.

"If you'd asked me a month ago, I would have said, 'You know what? We're not looking at any of those things,'" she said. 

"But now the landscape is changing."

The city offers rapid testing for workers and requires everyone coming in to their workplace to file a 'fit for duty' form every day, to make sure they're not showing any signs of COVID-19.

The city plans on revisiting its plans to bring workers back to the office in mid-September.