New COVID restrictions will result in a quiet Christmas
The restriction of limiting private indoor gatherings to immediate household members only will result in a quiet Christmas across Saskatchewan in 2020.
Premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab announced a series of additional measures on Monday in response to case rates which have not slowed enough to permit for any loosening of Public Health Orders.
“This needs to be a much quieter Christmas. And this year, we’re asking each and every one of you to do just that. Just slow this down. Just take advantage of the quiet time that we have ahead of us. Work from home if you are able. Don’t travel if you don’t need to,” Premier Moe said during Monday’s heightened restrictions.
Moe announced that effective Thursday, December 17, private, indoor gatherings will be limited to immediate household members only. Single individuals are permitted to meet with one, consistent household of less than five individuals for the duration of the order. Exceptions include co-parenting arrangements plus home visits from caregivers and support services.
Additionally, outdoor gatherings will be reduced from a group of 30 people down to a group of only 10 people, provided physical distancing between households can be maintained.
Effective Saturday, December 19 casinos and bingo halls will be closed. Starting on Saturday, personal services will be required to operate at only 50 per cent capacity, with impacted services including hairdresser/barber, esthetics, massage therapy, acupuncture, tattooing, etc. For a complete list of personal services, see https://www.saskatchewan.ca/re-open.
Effective on December 25, retail services must reduce their capacity to 50 per cent, while large retail locations are required to limit their capacity to 25 per cent of capacity.
Dr. Shahab noted that while COVID transmission numbers are not going up as quickly as early models predicted, the daily case numbers in the 250 to 300 continue to put pressure on the healthcare system.
He said that some of the restrictions come in response to the continued heightened transmission numbers from private gatherings.
“We are still seeing significant transmission in the household settings,” Dr. Shahab said.
“Colleagues, co-workers who maybe sit closer together than they should over lunch break, or maybe meet after work and aren’t practicing physical distancing when meeting over a meal.”
He presentation highlighted cases during the week of Dec. 6 to 13 where there were 94 new cases as a result of household exposure and an additional 34 through social exposure. There were also 91 cases among