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Regina 鈥� The concentration of COVID-19 鈥渧ariants of concern鈥� in Regina has led the provincial government to walk back loosened public health measures for Regina and its surrounding bedroom communities, so much so that the Ministry of Highways will soon be posting signs at the city鈥檚 entrances, warning people to avoid travel there.听
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Premier Scott Moe made the announcement during the regular March 23 COVID-19 briefing. Noting that these new measures affect only Regina and the surrounding communities, he said, 鈥淓ffective immediately, household gatherings go back to where they were a few weeks ago. And so that's no gatherings with people outside of your own household, with some limited exceptions for people that may be living alone or co-parenting arrangements, of course, service providers and caregivers. We鈥檙e strongly recommending that if you're able to work from home, you should work from home. Banquet halls, community halls art galleries, museums, libraries, cinemas, arcades bowling alleys, event venues live theaters, and the science centres must close effective midnight, this Saturday, March the 27th.鈥�
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Also effective Saturday at midnight, bars and restaurants in Regina and surrounding communities must close down in-person dining, but takeout and delivery will be allowed.听
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Worship services in these communities continue to be limited to 30 people.听
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The communities affected include Regina, Belle Plaine, Pense, Grand Coulee, Lumsden Beach, Regina Beach, Craven, Lumsden, Edenwold, Pilot Butte, White City, Balgonie, Kronau, Davin, Gray, Riceton, RM of Lajord, RM of Edenwold, RM of Sherwood, RM of Pense and the RM of Lumsden.
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To help affected, Moe said, 鈥淭he Saskatchewan Small Business Emergency Payment will be extended to those businesses that are impacted by today's announcement. Federal supports available also, such as Employment Insurance and the Canada Recovery Benefit are available to workers whose jobs are impacted by these measures.鈥�
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These measures are in place until April 5, but Moe said 鈥淚t鈥檚 very likely that they may have to be extended at that point in time.鈥� He added the intent is they not be in place for a long period of time.听
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He said, 鈥淭oday we are at a very challenging moment in this pandemic.鈥�
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Saskatchewan has been leading the nation in deploying the vaccines as they have come available, including completely using up the initial batch of AstraZeneca doses via the Regina drive-thru clinic. Moe said Saskatchewan鈥檚 share of the 1.5 million AstraZeneca doses U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced for Canada would come to 45,000 doses. When they arrive, he said the Regina drive-thru clinic will re-open, and similar clinics will take place in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Yorkton.听
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Moe said a further 36,000 Pfizer doses were expected to arrive on that day, the largest shipment to date. The next Moderna shipment is expected later in the week.听
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He acknowledged Regina is leading the nation, unfortunately, with the higher concentration of variants than anywhere else he was aware of.听
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Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said, 鈥淲e've been monitoring the indicator for Regina and area for the past several weeks, and despite all our best efforts of everyone in Regina, the numbers have continued to climb, necessitating, the need for additional measures announced today. they will be in place for a shorter period of time as a date to hopefully turn things around and have Regina also turning downward, like the rest of Saskatchewan.鈥�
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He noted that if it weren鈥檛 for Regina, new COVID-19 case numbers would have been less than 120 per day. The variants of concern are 70 per cent more transmissible than the original strain, he noted. As it is slightly more virulent, they are seeing increasingly younger people, including people in their 40s, 50s and 60s in the intensive care units. He expects ICU numbers to go up for the next two or three weeks.听听
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Moe said the intention is to preserve healthcare capacity across the province, and most notably in Regina. He warned the variants of concern are present elsewhere, saying, 鈥淚 think also we should, you know, be aware and not kid ourselves. There's variants that are present in various communities across the province. The challenge we have in Regina, is that the concentration of the variants in Regina seems to be very, very high.鈥�
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He asked Saskatchewan residents to follow public health measures in place, because 鈥渢he variants are quite likely in a community near you, and in particular, in Regina.鈥�
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Shahab said the variants have taken over, as they have in Europe.听
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Moe said, 鈥淵ou're going to see signs, mobile highway signs, start to pop up with the entries in and out of Regina, reminding people that we just don't encourage, and nor do we want people traveling in and out unnecessarily. And so you're going to see the Ministry of Highways starting to place signage at the entries and exits of the City of Regina.鈥�
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Session soon
The spring session of the Legislature is due to start April 6. Asked about MLAs travelling to and from their constituencies, Moe said, 鈥淵ou know it could range from online, if that's possible, and we're not certain that that even is possible at this point in time, to something similar to what we had last fall, where we had a reduced number of people in the House, but we did have an in-person sitting and that was approved by Dr. Shahab at the time.听
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鈥淎s far as travel would go, I would say that, you know, any and all MLAs, irrespective of their party if they are traveling to Regina, they should stay in Regina upon arriving here.鈥�
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He added they should stay in their community until it is time to come to Regina. They should not be travelling back and forth.听
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鈥淚n saying that, we do need to introduce a budget, and pass the budget, so that government can continue to function and continue to support Saskatchewan people throughout this pandemic. So there will, in some way shape or form be a budget that will be introduced and passed in Saskatchewan as soon as we're able.鈥�
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