SASKATOON -- With Christmas festivities almost here, the hot topic amongst people seems to be private gathering limits and how some holiday plans are being put on ice.
Mike Prebble is a teacher and the idea of following the new stricter capacity limits this Christmas just makes sense.
“This isn’t going to be the best Christmas for everyone, and I think we recognize that. I don’t think this will be an easy Christmas,” Prebble told CTV News.
Prebble says, for four months schools have been following stringent regulations so having stricter capacity limits now shouldn’t be a big deal for people.
“It’s a good policy to put in place before this time. It’s meant to keep people from being stupid at this time of year and having big parties.” He wants cases to stay low so school can safely reopen in the new year as planned.
The provincial website has a form anyone can fill out to report capacity issues with gatherings, but Prebble says, he likely won’t go that far unless there’s a huge party going on.
Violations can be called into the Public Health and police and as well.
Alyson Edwards with The Saskatoon Police Service tells us that they will be responding as they have previously.
“Our responses will be complaint driven and we hope to utilize education vs. enforcement. We have found most often that informing people that they are in violation of the Public Health Order is enough to convince them to comply.
In some situations, we consult with the Public Health Inspectors before ticketing.
We would encourage the public to make themselves aware of, and follow the guidelines laid out in the Public Health Order to ensure everyone's safety. Edwards does tells us that since the pandemic started, SPS has received 1322 calls related to COVID-19.
In a news conference Tuesday, The Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer said, case numbers are coming down slightly and that’s due to the hard work of Saskatchewan people who they’re relying on during the holidays.
“It is different and difficult, and we understand the risk and if all of us start meeting even one or two households we’d see a second spike. All the people I’ve talked to understand the new measures,” Dr. Saqib Shahab said in a news conference Tuesday.
