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New measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 through the holidays are to take effect in Saskatchewan just after midnight Thursday.
As of 12:01 a.m., private indoor gatherings will be limited to only the members of a household, and outdoor get-togethers will be capped at 10 people.
Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, told Gormley on Wednesday health officials were hoping the restrictions wouldn’t be necessary, but that just wasn’t possible.
“We were hopeful that, ‘Maybe if our numbers come down significantly, we can allow at least some interaction among households over Christmas (because) that’s so important,’ ” Shahab said.
“But unfortunately, our case numbers — although they’re plateauing and there are some good trends that are happening — they’re still so high that if all of us started meeting one or two households, that would certainly lead us to a second surge in January. Then that could lead to other further, longer-term restrictions.”
As of Tuesday, 12,432 COVID cases had been reported in Saskatchewan since March. That number has nearly quadrupled since the end of October, when there had been 3,144 cases.
The number of active cases stood at 4,204 as of Tuesday, up from 739 on Oct. 31. Of the 98 COVID-related deaths in the province since March, 73 have happened since the end of October.
The province implemented some measures on Nov. 27, which Shahab said have had some impact on case numbers. But more needed to be done, so the new rules — and others that are to take effect Saturday morning as well as on Christmas Day — were set out.
Casinos and bingo halls are to close as of Saturday and the capacity at retail outlets is being lowered on Christmas Day. The new measures will be reassessed Jan. 15.
“Take the holiday season as a way to spend time physically within our households — and by all means connect with friends and family outdoors in a safe way (or) connect with friends and family virtually — but it’s going to be so important this holiday season to not lose all the gains we’ve made over the last few weeks,” Shahab said.
Shahab said it’s vital during this period to understand the transmission dynamics of COVID and adjust accordingly. That’s what health officials are trying to do with the new restrictions.
“When it’s cold, people are indoors,” Shahab said. “If you’re indoors in a large, well-ventilated area like a retail location — where you can easily practise physical distancing, wear a mask (and) sanitize surfaces — the transmission risk is very low. But even there, we said to space things out, go when it’s less busy and so on.
“But it is those indoor gatherings in the home (that are the issue). Our houses are not large spaces and the way we sit, the way we interact with friends and family, is very different and so that really is the setting where the bulk of the transmissions have happened and are happening.
“Over the cold winter months, that’s where we need to be really careful.”
Some have argued that the new measures aren’t consistent, given that people can’t have visitors in their homes but they can meet friends or family members at locations such as bars and restaurants.
Shahab told Gormley the evidence has shown that transmission in restaurant settings isn’t zero, but it is lower than in homes. The key is strict adherence to the measures that have been put in place.
“The risk in restaurants, as long as people are sitting and not mingling, is lower,” Shahab said. “Having said that, we have had outbreaks where people have had their office party in the restaurant where it’s not just people sitting in groups of four and they have mingled.
“We do need to observe that discipline because workplace outbreaks are not by the nature of work. They are by nature of social interactions that happen at work or afterwards.”
Shahab said the province hasn’t seen many cases of influenza yet this year, so if someone has a cough or fever, it should be viewed as COVID until proven otherwise. That means self-isolation, testing and continued communication.
“For all of us, letting our close contacts know to isolate is going to be so important to keep COVID under control and start bending the curve downwards,” Shahab said.