During the fifth wave of the Omicron-driven pandemic, Saskatchewan has proven to be an outlier. While Quebec has imposed a curfew and Ontario has ended indoor dining and working out at gyms, Saskatchewan residents have enjoyed a life virtually free of restrictions. Students in that province even returned to face-to-face learning in time after the Christmas break.
A day before testing positive for COVID-19 this week, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said he did not believe these hardline restrictions were effective against this highly transmissible variant of COVID-19.
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“We have been watching to see if those restrictions are working to reduce transmission in our nation, as well as if they are reducing the hospitalization rate,” the prime minister said during a news conference on Wednesday. “I don’t know if they are working in any other province in Canada. We are seeing numbers continuing to spread in areas that have restrictions that go well beyond gathering limits and the numbers from the spread of Omicron seem to continue.”
After being hit hard by the Delta-fueled fourth wave, intensive care units in Saskatchewan continue to see patient numbers drop. However, the number of COVID-19 admissions to hospital units outside of the intensive care unit has increased in recent days, and epidemiologist Dr. Nazeen Muhajarine expects those numbers to continue to rise.
“I think this fifth wave in Saskatchewan is about two to three weeks into what I think will be five to six weeks, so we’re halfway there,” Muhajarine said from Saskatoon. “We are looking at 125 hospital beds occupied and I think that could easily double and triple from this point on.”
Muhajarine also disagrees with Moe’s statement that gathering limits and other restrictions are ineffective.
“Actually, I don’t know what empirical data you have to support that claim.”
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Moe is not the only provincial leader resisting calls to introduce more public health measures in the face of Omicron’s rise. On Thursday, Alberta’s premier warned that with more than 60,000 active cases, the province was experiencing more infections than at any point in the pandemic.
“This is the highest number of active cases that we have identified in Alberta at any time during COVID and we know that these numbers only represent a fraction of the actual spread that has been occurring in the province,” said Jason Kenney.
Alberta has had to limit access to PCR tests and rapid antigen test kits, available free to Albertans at pharmacies, are currently almost impossible to find. The province is awaiting shipments that have been delayed and available kits are being distributed to K-12 students in Alberta schools.
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“Given the number, the sheer number of cases in the province, we know that hospitalizations will continue to grow in the coming weeks, particularly for non-ICU beds,” the prime minister said on Thursday.
Still, no new public health measures were announced. Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, Dr. James Talbot, says he is concerned that without additional restrictions, the province’s hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.
“It takes about two weeks for things to go from when people were exposed to when they developed the disease,” he said. “That would suggest we’re not even seeing cases caused by gatherings at Christmas or New Years yet, so things are likely to get significantly worse.”
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