Premier not wavering on health measures, mandatory vaccines

Premier Scott Moe isn’t discussing the reintroduction of any public health measures or vaccine mandates with the highly infectious Delta variant bringing a new wave of COVID-19 infections to Saskatchewan.

Moe is confident the pandemic will end soon and the measures, or lack thereof, in Saskatchewan will be enough to see the province “learn to live with COVID.”

But at what cost?

“There’s no government that I’m aware of — and it won’t be this one — that will ever say, ‘you need to take a vaccine,’” Moe said.

Leaving the decision of mandatory vaccines up to employers, venues or businesses, the only place Moe said the provincial government is willing to wade into the argument is for provincial employees working in long term care facilities.

“We may have that discussion as an employer of a number of health care workers here in the province,” he said. “We’re not having it today.”

Moe said the province is supporting the healthcare industry by making it as easy as possible for a person to print any proof of vaccination via eHealth.

After going 49 days without a daily COVID-19 update or news conference, Health Minister Paul Merriman answered questions from reporters in Regina on Wednesday. The following day, Moe appeared on John Gormley Live, and after weeks of unanswered requests Dr. Saqib Shahab sat down with the CBC’s Sam Maciag.

A look at Saskatchewan

The COVID-19 picture in Saskatchewan has changed drastically since the last daily update.

When restrictions were lifted on July 11, the seven-day average of new daily cases has risen from 43 to 169 and hospitalizations have doubled, jumping from 54 to 104 in 46 days.

Active cases jumped from 399 to 1,602 in that same span.

The rise in numbers isn’t getting a rise out of the Premier, however. Moe suggested reintroducing any measures will unfairly target vaccinated people who have done their part to “stick it to COVID.”

“If you’re going to institute, for example, a broad-based mask measure — seven, eight out of 10 people already have the greatest protection there,” he said. “Really what you’re doing is targeting the two or three out of those 10 people and the risk is on them.”

Alberta announced earlier his month it would extend its remaining public health orders, including those that require people with COVID-19 to quarantine. Saskatchewan abandoned that practice and any other public health measures on July 11, meaning people are only encouraged to isolate after a positive COVID-19 test without any penalty for not doing so.

Manitoba said this week they will reintroduce mandatory masking requirements in indoor public spaces like grocery stores.

B.C. also announced a sweeping policy requiring people to show proof of vaccination to access some non-essential services. Ontario will ask staff in high-risk settings including schools to be vaccinated.

Saskatchewan’s single-dose vaccination rate of 64.25 per cent is the second-lowest of all provinces. The province also has the lowest percentage of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at 56.84 per cent, according to Health Canada.

Moe chose to instead compare the province with areas in the United States, calling Saskatchewan ‘one of the most vaccinated places in the world.’

“This is a disease of the unvaccinated,” Moe said, harking back to a familiar phrase he’s used since the spring. “By not forcing people to take a vaccine, that in no way is a lack of leadership and in no way is that saying that we do not take COVID seriously.”

While Moe doesn’t appreciate the criticism for not planning any additional measures in the fall, he’s maintaining the province intervened plenty over the last 18 months to get Saskatchewan as far as it has.

He doesn’t want to tell people where to wear a mask, how many people they can have in a home, and he definitely doesn’t want to force people to line up for a vaccine.

“It’s not the government’s place to go out and force people to stick a needle in their arm,” Moe said.