Wednesday marked a notable milestone for the province of Saskatchewan in its fight against COVID-19.
鈥淭oday will be our last regularly scheduled COVID briefing,鈥� Premier Scott Moe said at the latest media conference.
Moe prefaced that announcement by noting that Sunday, July 11, after 485 days of public health orders and restrictions and of 鈥渢he government telling you how to live your life,鈥� the remaining restrictions would end.
鈥淎s you can see there is no mission accomplished banner that is hanging behind me,鈥� Moe said. That was because even though the restrictions were coming to an end, COVID is not, he said
鈥淭his fight against COVID does need to continue, but it will shift into a new and somewhat different phase,鈥� Moe said.
鈥淚nstead of trying to control the COVID infection rate through government imposed restrictions and government rule, we can now control COVID through vaccines,鈥� said Moe.
As it was the final briefing, Moe thanked a multitude of people, including Saskatchewan people for doing their part by following orders and getting vaccinated. He also thanked essential workers, health-care workers and professionals, and others, as well as Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan鈥檚 chief medical health officer.
鈥淪askatchewan is in a very good place,鈥� Moe said of the latest numbers. He noted the seven-day average was 31, way down from the peak of 287 in mid-April. He credited this to Saskatchewan people 鈥済oing out and getting their vaccinations,鈥� and also saying the vaccines are highly effective in preventing COVID-19.
Of those eligible, 71 per cent had received at least one shot and 50 per cent their second dose. Anyone over the age of 12 is eligible to receive a shot and Moe said there was an ample supply of vaccines available in the province.
Some numbers were also provided at the news conference showing the stark difference in case numbers for those vaccinated and those unvaccinated.
Dr. Shahab showed a series of slides that reported there has been just over 2,032 cases of COVID-19 in June. Of those, 80.8 per cent were people who were unvaccinated, 17.5 per cent had their first dose and just 1.8 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Just five out of 102 individuals hospitalized for had been fully vaccinated. There were zero ICU cases and zero deaths from fully vaccinated people reported in June.
Moe made the point that COVID-19 was 鈥渁 disease of the unvaccinated,鈥� and repeated a message at the news conference that vaccines are effective and urged people to take time to get vaccinated.
Officials didn鈥檛 rule out the possibility of outbreaks. Officials did acknowledge at the news conference a major outbreak at Hatchet Lake Dene Nation in the province鈥檚 far northeast that has been linked by local officials to more than 109 cases in the area. Those numbers have not yet been added to the province鈥檚 tally.
鈥淲e will see some clusters like right now in the far northeast,鈥� Dr. Shahab acknowledged. He said those would be managed by community leadership and public health, and there would be a surge in contact tracing and testing. He said outbreaks would still happen, primarily among those unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.
The province was asked about what supports it was providing at Hatchet Lake Dene Nation. Dr. Shahab noted whenever there is a cluster it is 鈥渁ll hands on deck.鈥澛�
Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone said they have offered assistance to support the outbreak response, contact tracing is underway, and they have activated surge capacity and additional staff has been mobilized. There is also a community door-to-door approach for vaccinations and lots of support from local leadership, he said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of things going on, we鈥檙e monitoring the situation,鈥� Livingstone said, who pledged to provide any support or resources their partners needed.
