With cancellation of daily Sask. COVID-19 summary, people will have to 'go looking' for information: nurses' union

(File photo)

Saskatoon -

A nurses' union representative says the Government of Saskatchewan's decision to end the practice of distilling and releasing COVID-19 data on a daily basis could create barriers for a public looking to stay informed about the risk posed by the coronavirus.

On Thursday, the province announced while it would continue to update its online COVID-19 "dashboard," it will no longer post its daily summary of case counts and other information, instead moving to a weekly model for the summaries. The switch is planned for Aug. 3.

"It'll still be on that dashboard if you go looking for it. But it's not just going to be put out there so that people are aware of it and I think that would give us a better picture really of what's going on," Saskatchewan Union of Nurses vice-president Denise Dick told CTV News.

Dick said keeping information about COVID-19 flowing in Saskatchewan is especially critical right now due to the potential threat posed by the Delta variant.

"I would just wish it would continue because it's been a good reference for us to be able to see those numbers without having to go looking for them."

When announcing the move, the province did not provide a specific reason for the decision but said COVID-19 is moving from "pandemic to endemic."

Dick said she hopes the province would consider resuming the practice if case numbers begin to climb in Saskatchewan.

"I would hope that they would institute it right away, because I think it's a really important part, so that people know that things are changing and that they need to be more vigilant," Dick said.

"Because we don't know what's going to happen with these variants."