Mayor wants improved communication on cases

SHA sat on city outbreak information for a few days before publicly announcing

SASKATOON Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers found out his city had 34 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 along with the rest of the province on Wednesday.

In an interview on Thursday, Aalbers said he would like to see improved communication by the Saskatchewan government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

The government and the SHA announced on Wednesday that an outbreak of 13 cases was linked to the Lloydminster Hospital, including five health care workers and eight patients.

SHA officials revealed Wednesday that the outbreak at the hospital had been identified on Sunday, but was not announced until cases increased by five this week.

“I know people (in Lloydminster) would like to know and say they want to know,” Aalbers said. “It was surprising, by all means, to hear the numbers we heard yesterday.”

The province releases its case numbers based on six health regions, but does not break down cases for individual cities or communities. Lloydminster is lumped into the north region, which also includes Prince Albert, North Battleford and Melfort.

Dr. Mandiangu Nsungu, the SHA medical health officer for the north region that includes Lloydminster, said Wednesday that the release of information about an outbreak is weighed against the possibility of causing panic.

Aalbers, who was elected in 2016, said he intends to have conversations about the matter with the SHA and Lloydminster’s Saskatchewan Party MLA, Colleen Young.

“I’m hoping we can ensure the lines of communication get better and better,” Aalbers said, adding that the municipal government he leads shares information as soon as possible with residents.

The province announced two new cases of COVID -19 in Lloydminster on Thursday and reported that four people remained in hospital in the city.

Premier Scott Moe said he learned about the hospital outbreak on Wednesday. Moe said at his daily briefing Thursday the government and the SHA should be as “transparent as possible.”

Moe said the plan to begin reopening the province starting Monday will be put on hold in Lloydminster and the northern village of La Loche, where another cluster of cases is located.

NDP Opposition Leader Ryan Meili questioned the decision to wait three days before announcing the outbreak and repeated his call for more specific information on pandemic cases.

“That is just a key element of keeping people safe, is letting them know when there are outbreaks of the virus in their community,” Meili told reporters in his daily news conference on Thursday. Meili added there’s no indication that people would panic upon hearing of cases in their communities.

Aalbers said the halt on reopening plans for some non-urgent health services set for Monday is “disappointing,” but he intends to work with the province on the matter.

“We don’t want to force reopenings,” he said.

Aalbers said leading the border city of about 32,000 people has had a few challenges, given different pandemic restrictions in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The city ultimately opted to adopt Saskatchewan’s 10-person limit for gatherings, rather than Alberta’s 15-person limit.

The people are innocent. They’re not purposely spreading the virus. You might be carrying it and you don’t know. It’s not the fault of La Loche that this happened RICK LALIBERTE