REGINA - Today, Leader of the Official Opposition Ryan Meili, joined by Opposition Critic for Seniors Matt Love called for urgent measures to protect residents and staff in long-term care facilities in the face of several new outbreaks and the advent of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan.
“The Premier prematurely declared victory against COVID-19 at the start of the summer and has abdicated all responsibility for Saskatchewan’s objectively poor vaccination rates,” said Meili. “The Sask. Party government has been missing in action all summer, led by a Premier who won’t stand up and take on the important issues to families right here in Saskatchewan. Our seniors and our whole province deserve better.”
While the Sask. Party is patting itself on the back for a job half-done, the Delta variant is rising, seven nursing homes in Regina have declared outbreaks and Saskatoon’s wastewater shows a 348% increase in COVID-19 in the city over last week.
“The for-profit relationship at Extendicare has failed our seniors, and so has this government’s COVID-19 response across the long-term care system,” said Love. “If we are truly going to learn the lessons of the Parkside Extendicare tragedy we must do everything we can to protect our seniors.”
Specifically, New Democrats are calling for:
- Working with facilities and unions to achieve the required full vaccination of all staff in long-term care and throughout the health care system
- Mass testing in all long-term care facilities in Saskatchewan
- Developing a third dose plan for seniors in long-term care facilities and priority health care workers