The Saskatchewan Health Authority is urgently requesting co-operation from families and visitors to properly wear medical masks at all times within health-care facilities and long-term care homes while, at the same time Monday, expanding its mandatory medical masking protocol.

Effective immediately, families and visitors in S-H-A long-term care homes and affiliates will be required to wear a medical mask provided by the long-term care home at all times, not just when outside of residents’ rooms. The protocol applies to vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and applies to single and multi-resident rooms. The move was made by the S-H-A in an effort to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and its variants in light of increasing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Long-term care residents are not required to mask in their own rooms, as that is their home, but are encouraged to mask outside of their room and in common indoor areas.