'The war isn't won yet': Voices grow louder in push for Sask. to take action against raging Delta variant
Saskatoon has reached a new peak of active cases of COVID-19 with 966, up from the 921 mark set in January.
Calls are growing from leaders in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and medical professionals across Saskatchewan for the province to address the spread of the Delta variant.
“There are no public health orders, people are gathering and not wearing masks and it’s creating that environment for rapid spread right now,” said interim senior medical health officer Cory Neudorf.
On Aug. 26, Neudorf and medical health officers in Saskatchewan penned a letter to Premier Scott Moe and Health Minister Paul Merriman, calling on the government to implement public health orders.
Neudorf said he’s not asking for full lockdowns and closures, but a masking mandate is a good start.
Weeks later, new infections continue to skyrocket, especially in Saskatoon and the north central region, which includes Prince Albert.
“Every day that we wait to make those kinds of announcements means it’s just going to take longer to get over this fourth wave and the reactions we have will have to be more severe,” Neudorf said. “It’s certainly time to act now. It's overtime already.”
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said he’d like to see the provincial government take a proactive approach to mitigate the fast-spreading Delta variant. This comes after Saskatoon City Council voted in favour of mandating masks for all city employees and for all users of Saskatoon Transit and city-run buildings.
“I really would love to see a consistent framework put in place along the lines of what Dr. (Saqib) Shahab had said is needed, which is going back to an indoor mask mandate,” Clark said.
The inaction shown by the province is also causing stress for Prince Albert’s Mayor Greg Dionne.
“I was hoping the province would step up and now they’ve left it up to the cities and the spike is really starting to scare us,” Dionne said.
During the opening day of the Elk Ridge Open on the PGA’s Mackenzie Tour, Premier Scott Moe said he wouldn’t comment on hypotheticals when asked if his government would look at public health measures in the wake of another spike of COVID-19 cases.
Instead, he said he believes the province’s vaccine rates will continue to inch towards 80 per cent.
“At a point in time we’re going to reach a very high vaccination rate here in Saskatchewan and I think we will get near or close to that 80 percentile fully vaccinated sometime this calendar year. We’re still vaccinating today,” he said.
Neudorf said even if the provincial government were to reinstate public health measures this week, it would take several weeks before the province begins to see a downturn in new infections and hospitalizations.
“COVID has thrown another curveball at us with Delta, it’s time to reassess and say the war isn’t won yet,” Neudorf said.
— with files from Lisa Risom
Do you have a story idea or news tip? Email us.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.