Province unveils new restrictions for sports, restaurants, gaming venues, more

Sports teams were the big losers Wednesday when the Saskatchewan government announced new restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

The provincial government said all team/group sports, activities, games, practices and competitions are suspended until Dec. 17. That includes all amateur and recreational leagues for all age groups.

Activities such as hockey, curling, racquet sports, cheerleading and dance practices in group settings were included.

Those measures — along with others for restaurants and licensed establishments, gaming venues, places of worship and retail outlets — are to take effect Friday at 12:01 a.m., and are to remain in effect until Dec. 17.

At that point, they’ll be reviewed by Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer.

Shahab said during a media conference Wednesday that health officials knew there would be transmission when sporting activities were given the green light earlier this year. However, the numbers have been a problem of late.

“Over the last two to three weeks, they were becoming so frequent and in many cases they were resulting, in children’s sports, in multiple cases becoming imported into schools (and) for adult sports, multiple cases being imported into workplaces,” Shahab said.

“It was really important to have that pause for three weeks to slow down transmission in that setting and then the secondary effects for schools and workplaces.”

The government previously announced new restrictions on Nov. 17, including mandatory mask use in all indoor public places in the province and a five-person limit on private indoor gatherings. Those took effect last Thursday.

The number of new cases reported in the province has increased in recent weeks, with Saskatchewan twice setting new single-day highs for new cases (308 on Nov. 14, then 439 on Saturday).

There have been six deaths linked to COVID in the province over the past week and the number of hospitalizations has continued to rise. It stood at 111 on Wednesday.

A number of groups — including more than 400 Saskatchewan doctors, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation — have called for stricter measures to curb the spread of the virus leading into the Christmas holiday.

During Wednesday’s call, Premier Scott Moe said the government believes the new measures will help.

“There’s no silver bullet to controlling COVID-19,” he said. “There’s no one place, there’s no one activity that’s responsible for spreading this virus and there’s no one practice or one restriction or one guideline that would prevent the spread of this virus. We have to do all of it and we have to keep doing all of it all of the time, each and every day.”

Sports and athletics

The government said athletes and dancers 18 years of age and under can continue practising, conditioning and skills training in groups of eight or less, provided they wear masks and can maintain at least three metres of physical distancing between participants.

Groups of eight or more can’t share a training space at the same time.

Coaches and trainers don’t count in those numbers, but they must wear masks and stay three metres away from the participants.

Fitness activities and group fitness classes in groups of eight or less are permitted. Mask use and physical distancing is required.

In the past week, a curling club and three hockey teams have been listed among outbreaks in the province, meaning there have been two or more cases.

“Once the case numbers come down, sports are an important part of physical and mental and social well-being so as our numbers allow, the guidelines may need to be adjusted a bit,” Shahab said. “But we certainly hope to start again once our numbers settle down.”

Restaurants and licensed establishments

Seating at restaurants and licensed establishments such as bars, taverns and nightclubs will be limited to four people per table. The limit previously was six people per table.

If there are barriers set up, tables must be two metres apart. If there aren’t any barriers between tables, there must be at least three metres between all tables.

Bars in Saskatchewan already face a curfew, as alcohol can’t be purchased in any establishment after 10 p.m.

Performance and gaming venues

The government said capacity will be restricted to 30 people at all casinos, bingo halls, arenas, live theatres, movie theatres, performing arts venues and any other facilities that currently have a capacity of 150 people.

Food and beverage service can only be offered in a separate area.

Malls and retail

The government said businesses will be required to “enhance the expectation of mask use” and other measures such as directional flow signage and hand sanitizer.

Large retail locations (businesses with a square footage of more than 20,000 square feet) will have to limit customer access to 50 per cent capacity or four square metres of space per person, whichever is less.

Indoor public events

Indoor banquets, conferences and receptions for weddings and funerals in public venues are limited to a maximum of 30 people.

Food and beverages can’t be served at those events.

Places of worship also must limit gatherings to 30 people for all events, including weddings, funerals and baptisms.

Mandatory mask use expanded

The government said mandatory, non-medical masks must be used during all indoor fitness activities, except in swimming pools.

All students, employees and visitors to schools and daycares have to wear masks, as do employees and visitors in all common areas in businesses and workplaces — even when the public doesn’t have access.

Residents, employees and visitors in all common areas in provincial and municipal correctional facilities also must wear masks.

Moe said he has heard the talk about locking down the province — the so-called “circuit-breaker” — but he once again said it wasn’t in the best interests of businesses and their employees.

While Manitoba has closed non-essential businesses, Moe said the Saskatchewan government believes it would be unfair to those operators and their employees.

“Our numbers say that we need to take these steps,” Moe said. “We need to take the initiative here to bend our infection rate down in our communities to ensure the health of our health-care system, the health of our communities and ultimately the health of our economy.”