Sask. won’t impose more COVID-19 measures: Premier Scott Moe

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he will not bring in additional COVID-19 measures because that would take away people’s personal freedoms.

Moe made the comment while delivering a state-of-theprovince address to Saskatoon’s Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

He said COVID-19 vaccines are widely available, so his Saskatchewan Party government will not order lockdowns or restrictions that could lead to business closures.

“It doesn’t make sense to restrict everyone’s activities,” Moe said.

“We don’t think it’s fair, and we don’t think it’s right to impose those sweeping closures, those sweeping restrictions on all of the people when the vast majority ... in this province have went out and done the right thing, and received the vaccine.”

Some medical experts and the Canadian Medical Association have been urging restrictions on gathering sizes as hospitals continue to admit a high number of COVID-19 patients.

Data from the

Saskatchewan Health

Authority for this month shows that Saskatchewan has had the most residents in intensive care units per capita than any other province at any point in the pandemic.

The province on Monday reported 170 new infections and 2,822 active cases. There were 293 people hospitalized with the virus, 81 of them in intensive care units. Nine of those intensive care patients are receiving critical care in Ontario.

Last week, chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said COVID-19 vaccines are not enough to stop Saskatchewan’s fourth wave.

While cases have been trending downward, the province’s test positivity rate is at 10 per cent.

Shahab said “we’re certainly not out of the woods yet” as Saskatchewan may still see an increase in hospitalizations, including ICU admissions.

“It’s too early to be too confident right now,” he said.

“We need to sustain the course for the next four to six weeks to really get our cases down, get our hospitalizations down, and give our healthcare system the chance to recover.”