Saskatoon city leaders are making a direct appeal to the city’s citizens to help get COVID-19 numbers down by following guidelines. They say cases have gone from 257 active cases a month ago to 1352 yesterday. There are 41 people hospitalized in Saskatoon and 11 in ICU – operating at 126% – at overcapacity.

Mayor Clark was joined by Dr. Jasmine Hasselback, Fire Chief Morgan Hackl , Police Chief Troy Cooper, and Tourism Saskatoon CEO Stephanie Clovechok who are asking every individual to create a very small bubble made up of your household and only essential connections; to always wear a mask when interacting with people outside that bubble; to plan ahead and know where you need to go and who you need to meet virtually or those you need to meet in person; keep physically distancing at least 2 metres; and sign up for the COVID Alert App.

For businesses, community leaders ask, among other things, business leaders develop and/or confirm internal safety controls and post transmission standard operating procedures with the help of Tourism Saskatoon as well as maintaining a registry of contacts of every person that comes into your workplace.

Saskatoon’s community leaders say the city’s residents can’t continue down this path especially in light of a forecasted peak in mid-January which would put ICU capacity at 449%.