The President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority says there are plans in place for starting up surgeries and procedures again, once the COVID-19 numbers are low enough and there are fewer patients in ICUs. However, Scott Livingstone emphasizes that with the decreased pressure in ICUs, they have been able to restart critical care surgeries. Those are the surgeries where an ICU bed is needed after the surgery is done, and that is slowly beginning to happen again. Livingstone notes that surgeries never completely stopped. He estimates the SHA has maintained about a 50 per cent elective surgery volume throughout the fourth wave of the pandemic.

As of November 8th, anyone arriving at a Saskatchewan Health Authority acute care facility or Long Term Care Home will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or they will have to provide proof of a negative COVID test. Livingstone explains that there are still some outbreaks in Long Term Care facilities and this adds another layer of safety for staff, patients and visitors. He notes that the vaccine booster program has been a game changer in care homes and Long Term Care homes. The COVID numbers were beginning to creep up once the double vaccinations had gone past the six months, but that has stabilized since the booster shots.

Three more Saskatchewan ICU patients with COVID-19 are expected to be transferred to Ontario today, for a total of 22 to date, but one of the patients may be coming back home. The Saskatchewan Health Authority’s President and CEO, Scott Livingstone, says once a patient no longer needs ICU care, they can be brought back to a Saskatchewan hospital. Two more patients are expected to be transferred each day on Saturday and Sunday. As of six a.m., there were 237 people with COVID-19 in the hospital, including 54 in an ICU. There are also 37 non-COVID patients in an ICU for a total of 91.