Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer says there are no extra restrictions for the holidays because this province has the second lowest rate of case numbers in Canada right now, and the number of the highly transmissible Omicron variant hasn’t taken over, yet. However, Dr. Saqib Shahab says the province is seeing more and more Omicron, although no one with the variant is in the hospital.
So far, one-third are from international travel, one-third are inter-provincial travel and the other third are community outbreaks. A handful of cases, less than five, are linked to a school outbreak, and another handful, at less than five, are linked to a hockey team.
Dr. Shahab suggests if there is a surge in Saskatchewan, we will probably see higher case numbers than we did with the Delta variant, but early reports are that hospitalizations with Omicron and the death toll aren’t as high. He notes that Omicron is new though, and it takes awhile to see hospitalizations rise. If there is a significant rise in COVID numbers after the holiday, Shahab suggests there could be new measures enacted, but for now he urges everyone to get vaccinated and get your booster shots, which seem to help with the effectiveness against Omicron. He also advises to keep gatherings small, visit outdoors if you can, and wear your most protective masks in public.
Dr. Shahab quotes other provinces which have stated that “Twenty is Plenty” when it comes to gathering sizes. His suggestion is to keep groups small, with two to three consistent households.
Shahab adds that if you are travelling inter-provincially, it’s a good idea to do a self-test when you arrive and eight days afterwards, and do a self-test if you are going to a large event.
President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, Marlo Pritchard says Omicron is expected to take over and grow as it has elsewhere, and getting vaccinated will help to keep you and others around you safe. As of Monday, anyone 18 and older is eligible for a booster shot if it has been three months since your second dose. In one day there were 32,337 booster shot appointments, which beat the previous single day record by almost 5,000 bookings.
The calculations from September through November, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority, are that those who are unvaccinated are six times more likely to get COVID-19, 14 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 23 times more likely to be admitted to an ICU.
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