SHA: Health-care workers still stretched, contact tracing catching up

The CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said health-care workers remain under tremendous stress even as a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus begins to be rolled out to vulnerable residents.

“They’re tired. They’re worried about their families,” Scott Livingstone told Gormley on Tuesday morning. “Any time throughout the pandemic, when we see special celebration weekends, you know we’re all concerned about what might happen after Christmas.”

Last week, the SHA announced it would slow down about 200 out of 900-plus services to redeploy staff and resources. Surgeries have been reduced in Saskatoon and Regina, with disruptions in North Battleford and Prince Albert as well. These details were revealed during an update on the health authority’s surge plan.

“Folks are really bearing down and we’re trying to support them as much as we can with time off, but people are working literally around the clock to care for people,” Livingstone said.

“They need support for everybody in this province to get through the next few months as we continue to vaccinate.”

Identifying people who might have been infected with COVID-19 is key to reducing cases. By finding and alerting these people, the chains of transmission can be broken, slowing down the spread of the virus.

On that front, Livingstone had some good news to report. To date, the SHA has hired more than 700 full-time employees to support its “offensive strategy,” which includes testing, contact tracing and outbreak management.

“We’re not completely caught up, particularly with respect to close contacts, et cetera. But we are making headway and things are improving,” he said.

“Our hope is over this next three to four week time period, with the resources we put on board, we’re going to catch up.”

Livingstone said it also helps that the number of close contacts for each case has been decreasing.

One week has passed since the SHA’s pilot project to vaccinate health care workers at Regina hospitals and testing centres. Livingstone said the program has gone well and they have learned plenty about storing and transporting the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, which needs to be kept at ultra-low temperatures. Healthcare workers in Saskatoon are set to begin receiving their shots on Tuesday, he said.

“And as we move through the Christmas season, and with the hopeful approval very soon as the Moderna vaccine, that will expand our capacity in the new year to start broadening the scope of the vaccination Phase One program.”