Saskatoon church celebrates first pandemic Easter without restrictions — but expert urges caution

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For the first time in three years, churches across Saskatchewan were able to welcome full crowds of worshipers on Easter without COVID-19 restrictions.

Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of administration at the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Saskatoon, said Easter just doesn't feel right without that sense of community.

"After two years of not being able to gather together at the holiest time of the year, It is really a time of celebration," she said. "To be able to be more open to celebrating it together makes it just that much more special."

Fr. Gerard Cooper at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon was eager to see what the turnout would be like, not only at the sprawling cathedral that can seat up to 2,000 parishioners but at dinner tables across the city after mass ends.

"It's really good to be back," Cooper said. "Easter, of course in our Catholic tradition, is the feast of feasts. When we're gathered with family around the table I think that's when we are most alive."

Fitzgerald said there's been a gradual increase in attendance for Sunday services ever since restrictions were lifted in the province in February as more people slowly warmed up to the idea of being in close proximity to others.

"We know that COVID is still here. And we are anticipating and hoping that our parishioners or members of our church community are going to exercise caution and do the things that they have always done to be careful for themselves and for their neighbours," Fitzgerald said.

Epidemiologist Nazeem Muhajarine is doubling down on that caution as Passover and Ramadan also occurred this weekend, putting plenty of people in the province in group surroundings.

"COVID-19 is very present," Muhajarine said. "In fact, it may be more present in terms of spread than really at any point in the pandemic."

Without many forms of reliable data, Muhajarine said anecdotes from healthcare workers speaking about a lack of available beds in hospitals and the University of Saskatchewan's weekly study showing a 743 per cent jump of coronavirus detected in Saskatoon's wastewater show yet another sign of the peaks and valleys of spread and transmission.

"I would expect the numbers to go up," he said. "I think that does show what we are likely to see in the coming weeks."

The Ministry of Health's weekly COVID-19 report released on Thursday said there were 403 people with the illnes in provincial healthcare facilities, up from 354 a week earlier.

That total is just seven hospitalizations shy of the province’s high of 410 set during the week of Feb. 6-12.

"We are imploring people to take precautions. We don't have all the numbers at our fingertips. It is all up to us," Muhajarine said.

Cooper said Easter service still has some slight differences than people may remember prior to the pandemic, such as bowing instead of shaking hands, to keep transmission low.

With some churches able to space people out and take their own measures to keep people as safe as possible, Cooper was overjoyed to know that Easter can once again bring families together again and not have it happen through a video call.

"I think those are kind of just things that make us feel human in the most basic normal way," Cooper said.