Nursing homes, hospitals to maintain masking rule
`Not business as usual,' until virus `effectively controlled,' says SHA
Some long-term care homes say they're waiting for answers on whether residents, staff and family members can or should ditch their face masks when Saskatchewan lifts its last public health restrictions next month.
Premier Scott Moe announced days ago that Saskatchewan will scrap its last public health orders on July 11, including a mandate on masking in indoor public spaces.
However, on Tuesday the Saskatchewan Health Authority wrote to long-term care homes, warning them “it is not business as usual” in health care and that “safety directives, such as masking and use of personal protective equipment, will remain in place in SHA facilities and long-term care homes until the risks of COVID-19 are effectively controlled.”
Wayne Nogier, CEO of Mont St. Joseph care home in Prince Albert, said he is unsure if the message foreshadows a new public health order or if the SHA is simply making a recommendation.
“Until it drops down as an official policy directive or a continuation of the public health order, I'm handcuffed,” Nogier said.
Three sources confirmed receipt of the memo.
The SHA did not respond to a request for comment sent on Monday. The provincial Ministry of Health wrote only that “guidance for long-term care homes for after July 11 is under review.”
The email came after days of long-term care homes asking for clearer direction on whether they'll follow the rest of the province in dropping public health measures on July 11.
Randy Kurtz, CEO of Sunnyside Adventist Care Centre in Saskatoon, said he hopes the masking mandate remains in long-term care for a few weeks after July 11, in case COVID -19 infections flare out of control when the province lurches back to life.
He remembers what it's like to be in an outbreak and wants to avoid that to the best of his ability, he said.
“We don't want to bring things back too soon and then have to get rid of them because we had an outbreak.”
Staff at other homes worry about the lack of a timeline for relaxing restrictions and its effects on residents' quality of life.
The SHA'S memo said only that it “will monitor the situation as it relates to (variants of concern) and transmission, reassessing and adjusting as required as the COVID -19 pandemic evolves.”
Speaking on Tuesday morning before the memo went out, Suellen Beatty, CEO of Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, said, “I think people have got into a little bit of what I call surplus safety. We're continuing to do things that don't really make any sense any more.”
Residents can now visit family or have visitors indoors, but she questions why other public health measures have to remain given their 95-per-cent vaccination rate, even if she acknowledges not everyone feels the same way about reopening, she said.
“Some people are anxious; some people just can't wait.”
Nogier said clarity is key. Masking, while crucial to stopping the spread of COVID-19, also affects care for residents with dementia, as does restricting visits from family, who are part of the care delivery team, he said. But without a clear directive, he has little to tell them. “It feels like sometimes there's a disconnect between the politicians and the bureaucrats, and the bureaucrats and the SHA,” Nogier said.