Moe's Christmas lockdown key in COVID fight
The extent of Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's worries at this time in a normal year would usually be confined to how to phrase his Merry Christmas statement.
In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are as likely to be offended by the suggestion anything could be “merry” than any reference to a Christian celebration.
It's been a tough year and Moe — all of us for that matter — would surely have loved to see a “normal” Christmas in a week from now.
This wish goes beyond the more crass commercial elements of Christmas shoppers bolstering the Saskatchewan economy and paying the provincial sales tax on presents — tax revenue government coffers now badly need.
Obviously, Moe has been adamant regarding the need to keep businesses open, but a big part of that has been his sincere interest in seeing local businesses survive the financial impact of COVID-19. There's nothing wrong with that.
Saskatchewan businesses are run by Saskatchewan people and those people are hurting. They employ people who have lost work and are also hurting.
And those who think Scott Moe isn't about Saskatchewan people are badly misjudging him.
Yes, he is a politician who is blatantly partisan and far too often one-tracked in his thinking. He has too often reacted to the pandemic slowly and without the firmness required — his penchant has been to move in only small, incremental steps in this pandemic when more decisive measures were needed.
But Moe is a Saskatchewan boy through and through.
And like most everyone who was raised in this province, he gets the special meaning of Christmas here.
He gets it's the time of year when the kids and grandkids return from the cities or Alberta to come home to the farms, small towns or wherever they grew up to sleep on the lumpy mattresses in the spare room. It's a time where we make memories of gathering around the “Christmas table” extended by a folding card table to accommodate everyone and the extra big turkey.
There's no need for that extra big turkey this year. In fact, the trees may seem a little more barren with fewer presents under them.
The simply reality is that this is not the Christmas that Moe or any us wanted, but it's the Christmas we need if we are to get in front of the spread of COVID-19.
There is good news in this fight — both in the short and long terms.
The long-term good news is the first vaccinations were given this week and they — while critical to health-care workers and the vulnerable right now — will be key to stopping the spread as more and more of us are injected.
In the short term, while rising death tolls and stories emerging from personal care homes are very unnerving, it is important that the daily case numbers are trending downward — or at least plateauing — to the latest average of 243 a day.
But our health system cannot sustain the numbers at this plateau. We need to do more.
It begins with getting a better handle on contact tracing. The information shared this week by chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab shows the vast majority of cases last week were of unknown/unidentified origin or pending cause.
Should we have been better equipped with contract tracing needed for this second wave? Of course. But 2020 hindsight has taken on new meaning in this year of the pandemic. It's best to simply move forward with the most comprehensive strategy to get those case numbers down now.
And while it certainly hasn't been Moe's preference to impose a Christmas/ post-christmas lockdown and/or circuit-breaker (that's not what he is calling it, but it is essentially what he is doing), it's our job to support him and his restrictions.
It means the Christmas we will be celebrating in a week won't be the most festive one we've ever had. But that's what we need right now.