NDP: Ongoing COVID crisis demands government action

REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Leader Ryan Meili called on Premier Moe and the Sask. Party government to reinstate indoor gathering size limits and provide clear public guidance leading into this Thanksgiving weekend.

“This government can’t keep sitting on its hands ignoring the pleas of the health care professionals who are begging them to do something,” said Meili. “Families want to get together, I know I certainly do, but with the current state of our hospital system, the people of Saskatchewan deserve clear guidance and leadership on how to do that safely. They aren’t getting that from this current government.”

Last year, COVID case numbers and hospitalizations soared after the Thanksgiving weekend. In the weeks following Thanksgiving 2020, the daily case average rose by 2.7x, hospitalizations rose by 4.8x, and active cases rose by 3.7x. As stated by Dr. Shahab, on our current trajectory, we are headed towards a fall and winter of misery. Saskatchewan continues to lead the provinces with the highest COVID case rates, while our hospital and ICU numbers hit record highs. Calls for stronger restrictions have come from across the medical community, including the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), to save our health care capacity and our exhausted frontline health care workers.

“Leadership means making the difficult choices, making decisions in best interests of the people we were elected to serve, not just politically expedient ones,” said Meili “No one wants to be calling for further restrictions but our health care system can’t sustain another spike in cases, as we’ve seen historically following holidays. Premier Moe needs to listen to the medical professionals and enact policies that will save our ICU capacity before we reach a point of no return.”

Saskatchewan New Democrats are calling for:

A return to indoor gathering limits for both public and private events until cases and hospitalizations stabilize.
Provide clear public guidelines to families on how to safely enjoy Thanksgiving

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