Additional re-openings pave way for resumption of a variety of activities
A series of additional eased restrictions provided another step forward during the second part of Saskatchewan’s Phase 4 Re-opening plan.
Starting on Monday the province approved the re-opening of all indoor recreational facilities such as indoor hockey rinks, indoor swimming pools and bowling alleys can reopen. Additionally, starting on July 6, the province removed the 50 per cent capacity restrictions at restaurants and bars.
“While there will be no specific percentage occupancy cap, bars and restaurants will still need to maintain an occupancy level that maintains safe physical distancing for their customers and for their staff,” Premier Scott Moe commented during a media availability last week.
Bars are also permitted to re-open their VLT areas, and recreational areas can be reopened allowing for patrons to enjoy darts and pool.
Plus, effective today, SIGA and Saskgaming casinos can reopen. The Living Sky Casino will begin operations today at 6 p.m., and will be adopting operating hours from noon to midnight with reduced capacity and other safety measures to adhere to the public health guidelines.
Starting on Thursday, July 16, restaurants and bars can once again have live entertainment.
Also on July 16, a number of remaining outdoor sports and activities can start, with a limited number of spectators. This will allow for the holding of stock car racing, rodeos, and barrel racing.
Premier Moe said this cautious approach is designed to avoid the pitfalls of re-opening too quickly which is resulting in a spike of cases in other jurisdictions.
“We know that COVID-19 has not disappeared. It can spread very quickly if we let our guard down even for a moment.”
“We’ve came a long way due to the effort of so many in this province. The numbers remain constant and fairly positive, and so with a little bit more of a path to travel here, but for all intents and purposes until such time as we’re dealing with this pandemic, we are going to have a fairly comprehensive document in the Re-open Saskatchewan Plan that will guide the safety of our business environment, of our community services, of our recreational services.”
Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said the relaxation of capacity numbers in restaurants comes in response to hearing from several restaurants who explained they were confident they could increase their capacity while maintaining physical separation for both customers and staff.
“I think relaxing those guidelines is appropriate now,” Dr. Shahab said.
“We just need to understand that we’re choosing to enjoy these recreational activities with some maybe increase in risk,” he said. “If there is a case or a transmission, I think we expect to see that. We hope that with these guidelines and regulations won’t see multiple and expanding chains of transmission.”
“We are confident that with these new guidelines we can start start enjoying the things that we used to enjoy, but at the same time expect to see the occasional case or cluster.”
But he too advised people to remain diligent in the measures which have been successful in flattening the curve of COVID thus far.
“We need to be cautiously optimistic but not complacent, and I think there’s a big difference between that,” Dr. Shahab said. “I think we can be cautiously optimistic that we are in a good place to re-open, but we should certainly not be complacent. And we know now from many Canadian jurisdictions that some gatherings that were not thought out well in other provinces there have been multiple gatherings that people went to where they had multiple chains of transmission.”