'Simply not the case': Sask. pandemic chief of staff says COVID-19 testing not a substitute for vaccinations

A nurse uses a swab to perform a test on a patient at a drive-in COVID-19 clinic in Montreal, on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Saskatoon -

Starting Friday, proof of vaccination or a negative test result no more than 72 hours old is required at many businesses in Saskatchewan.

The rule applies to restaurants, bars and a variety of entertainment venues.

However, a physician who serves as a pandemic chief of staff at the Saskatchewan Health Authority says a negative test result is in no way a substitute for vaccination.

"There seems to be some kind of perception at least that testing is somehow equivalent to vaccination as a strategy for control of this virus in the population," Dr. Mark Fenton said.

"That's simply not the case."

Fenton made the comments during a special Saskatoon city council meeting held on Wednesday where councillors voted unanimously to ask the province to introduce limits on gathering sizes to control the spread of COVID-19.

"If you look at it from a hierarchy of control perspective, vaccination would be a more effective intervention (than negative test results)," Fenton said.

"I just think it's important to highlight that in Saskatchewan if you're a citizen who is unvaccinated you're six times more likely to get COVID and then five times more likely to need hospitalization related to COVID and eight times more likely to end up in the intensive care unit."

On Thursday Saskatchewan set a daily record with 601 new reported COVID-19 cases.

Of the new cases, 520 or 87 per cent were identified in unvaccinated people with 127 cases in children under 12.

• Sask. COVID-19 'onslaught' forces some hospitals to close ERs

As of Thursday's update to provincial totals, a total of 307 people were hospitalized in Saskatchewan due to COVID-19 with 72 of the patients in intensive care.