SASKATOON -- Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark says the biggest gift residents can give their loved ones is their health.
“I've already heard in conversations, and I know other people have heard in conversations, that people have been struggling with this and are looking for ways to get around the gathering guidelines for Christmas or for the holiday season,” he said at a press conference on Friday.
“We're wanting to be here today to say, ‘Please don't do that’. There are ways that we can still celebrate the holidays together and to worship together.”
New public health measures went into effect on Thursday across the province, limiting the number of people allowed to gather in a single household over the holiday season.
The new guidelines mean single-person households are allowed to meet with only one other household, as long as the total number of people doesn’t exceed five.
“I always think of it as who are you adopting,” said Dr. Jasmine Hasselback, Saskatoon’s medical health officer.
“There can be that addition of a single individual, maintaining that household less than five. And the reason is that we have known for quite some time that our transmission patterns in Saskatoon, and across Saskatchewan, do reflect those behaviors, those indoor gathering behaviors.”
Positive cases in Saskatchewan began to increase shortly after Thanksgiving and Hasselback says that’s a trend they’d like to avoid following the holiday season.
“When people come together, that's when we see risk, when we come together without those mitigations in place,” she said.
“If everyone in our community commits to taking the actions as outlined in the restrictions, then we will come through the holidays well. We will continue to see either a continued leveling off or even a dip in how much COVID activity we're seeing. We'll be able to go into January with a little bit more of a balance, and less strain on our health system.”
Saskatoon police on Friday issued a $2,800 fine to a key participant involved in a planned protest against coronavirus-related public health measures on Dec. 5, a day before another similar event is planned.
Clark says police will be at the event to enforce public health orders. He is asking for people to focus on “rallying to keep people alive, not to tell people to break public health orders.”
“We've just surpassed 100 deaths from COVID this year and we've been hearing desperate pleas from those who are on the front lines, the nurses and the doctors, of just how horrible it is to see people lose their lives right now,” he said.
“There's people who are hearing misinformation and conspiracy theories, and they're very, very disconcerting right now because the reality is that we need to support those health workers who are trying to keep people alive, and to not listen to some of the misinformation and conspiracy theories.”
“They are not representative of the vast majority of people in this community,” added Hasselback. “We have a community that is committed and has shown sacrifice and energy in the right direction. which is why we've seen improvements that we've had. Let's focus on them.”
