Politicians must not undermine health leaders
For an hour Thursday, Saskatchewan health officials alone delivered the grim prospects of what our health system now faces in this second COVID-19 wave.
As disturbing as the presentation was, we desperately needed exactly such an unvarnished assessment absent the political spin that — of late — has been all about justifying inaction.
And for all the professed love for officials from Premier Scott Moe directed at chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) staff, what's been consistent is health officials here and elsewhere are being consistently undermined by political interests.
We may not always like what we hear from Dr. Shahab and other health officials. But not only do we need to hear more from them, but we quite possibly need to give them more authority under the Public Health Act than they might currently have.
Relinquishing authority to non-elected officials is something we should never take lightly. It can always be credibly argued it's a dangerous thing to delude democratic authority.
But not all principles equally apply in a public health crisis where what may normally be defined as freedoms do need to give way to the wisdom of authorities.
The first order of business of new and re-elected politicians returning Monday to open the 29th Saskatchewan legislature needs to be a review of the authority within the Public Health Act.
Thursday, we got to hear a simple fact that Moe and his Saskatchewan Party ministers have somehow forgotten to mention in their determination to keep as much of the economy as open as possible: We have had a 383-per cent increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the previous 30 days.
After a brief reprieve of new cases below the seven-day average, we were bluntly told the 299 cases Thursday (315 new cases, including out-ofprovince numbers cases) are “unsustainable.”
With three more deaths reported Thursday (40 in total) and the seven-day new case average on the rise to 243, we now see 108 people hospitalized and 18 in intensive care — a five-fold increase.
“(The numbers) are leading us into dangerous territory, and if our case numbers don't stabilize over the next two weeks, further restrictive measures will be required,” Shahab told reporters.
His words were not greeted by follow-ups from Moe or Health Minister Paul Merriman polishing up the bad news or incoherently contradicting the stark facts. Instead, we were treated to more.
“This is a sustained increase in very sick people for the longest period of time that I think we've ever seen,” said Dr. Susan Shaw, chief medical health officer for the SHA and a 20-year ICU doctor.
“We know it's going to continue for the weeks to come.”
SHA modelling indicates COVID-19 could take up half of available acute care beds by the spring and ICU demands could be five times current capacity.
As SHA CEO Scott Livingstone suggested, we are asking our health-care professionals to wander into the lion's den.
The question that really needs to be answered right now is: Are medical professionals wandering into that lion's den after their leadership warned politicians of the dangers? It sure seems that way.
From Alberta, we are already seeing stories in which that province's chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hindshaw, has clearly been at odds with a strident United Conservative Party government that seems intent on ignoring her guidance to impose public health rules.
To think this isn't happening everywhere — including here in Saskatchewan — would be rather naive.
Credit Moe for his most recent announcement that was tougher and did seem far more based on science, statistical evidence and the advice of the health team leadership.
But the premier and others need to understand that undermining their own medical professionals so as not to hurt the feelings of hoax-promoting idiots isn't helping. It's high time to call them out and to demonstrate trust in medical professionals.
Weakening the credibility of our health leadership makes us all weaker.