Shahab to announce ‘surgical precision’ on new COVID-19 measures, Moe says

Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer is expected to announce new measures Wednesday to control the spread of COVID-19 amid a rising active case count.

In his first interview on Gormley since Monday’s provincial election, Premier Scott Moe said the measures will be narrowly targeted, with “surgical precision.”

“Dr. (Saqib) Shahab will be out later today (and speak) not at the community level, not even at a sector of our economy level, but specifically to those businesses, those portions of a sector of our economy that seem to be stepping outside of the public health advice,” Moe said.

“We have a challenge in Saskatoon with a few nightclubs that went outside of the public health advice so I think you’ll see Dr. Shahab is going to speak very directly to our youth and to those who think it might be all right to push at the edges of the guidelines a bit.”

Shahab’s media conference can be heard live on 980 CJME and 650 CKOM at 2:30 p.m.

The number of active cases in the province was at 652 as of Tuesday, with 190 in the Saskatoon area, 128 in the north-central zone and 105 in the Regina region.

Moe said the reason for the increase is a “small group of people that went outside of the public advice and have caused us now some secondary and tertiary infections.”

He noted that while active cases are up, they are still 20 per cent below the national average. Total cases in Saskatchewan are 59 per cent below the national average and deaths are 92 per cent below the national average.

“Even at this heightened level of infections in Saskatchewan, we’re still doing relatively, fairly well,” Moe said.

Other topics

During the conversation with Gormley, Moe said changes can be expected to his cabinet.

“We’re going to be putting together a cabinet list and it will be different than what we had going into the election,” Moe said.

The conversation began with the premier’s comments Tuesday about seeking greater autonomy for the province, which Moe said is underway through the appointment of its own chief firearms officer, the challenge of the federal carbon tax in court and the opening of trade offices abroad.

He said the provincial government will also try to find a way to take control over tax collection and immigration.

Moe argued Saskatchewan succeeds as long as it can “determine our own destiny.”

“We’re going to actively move down that road. We’ve indicated that in months gone by and now we’re going to put that into action,” he said.