Provincial government defends decision to lift mask mandates at Sask. Health Authority facilities
Dr. Saqib Shahab proposed decision, made in consultation between Ministry of Health, SHA
The provincial government is defending its decision to lift the requirement for masks and physical distancing at all Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) facilities.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Paul Merriman said the decision originated with, and was recommended by, Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province's chief medical health officer.
"Dr. Shahab had brought this up a little while ago, getting back to pre-COVID and back to 2019," Merriman said on Tuesday.
The final decision was made in consultation with Shahab, the SHA and SHA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Susan Shaw, the province said.
Everett Hindley, the province's minister of rural and remote health, had originally told media on Monday that the change would come into effect Thursday, but on Tuesday the province announced it would happen immediately.
At SHA facilities, masking will only be required in locations where they would have been before the pandemic, such as operating rooms.
Private doctors offices will still be allowed to require masking if they desire.
Masks and personal protective equipment such as masks, gowns or gloves will still be required for staff and visitors during outbreaks or in specific high-risk clinical areas, the province said in a news release.
The decision to remove the mandate was the result of analysis done by Dr. Saqib Shahab and the trends his office was seeing, Merriman said.
Hindley offered a slightly different interpretation on Monday.
"We want to make sure that we're treating it the same as every other respiratory illness that we know of, in terms of the precautions that we take," Hindley said.
Matt Love, NDP critic for rural and remote health, declined to say whether he thought Tuesday's announcement was the correct decision, citing that he is not a medical professional.
Instead, Love stressed that he wanted to know whether lifting mask mandates at SHA facilities was politically motivated.
"I think what would help the public to understand is to directly hear from Dr. Shahab about this change so we can trust that this decision is being made by health-care professionals and not politicians," he said.
Data, anecdotes show desire to return to normal
The results of a CBC commissioned poll seem to indicate that a large part of the provincial population only wears masks when required.
The poll was conducted from March 2 to March 10 by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan. It had 400 respondents, leading to a margin of error of plus or minus 4.90 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Roughly 10 per cent of the poll's respondents said they never wear a mask, while nearly 49 per cent only wear a mask when required, in places like hospitals or care homes.
In comparison, 12 per cent said they wear a mask always or often.
Half of those polled said that the province is already back to normal or almost back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hindley said he has repeatedly heard from people across the province who are ready for the mask mandate at SHA facilities to end.
"I know myself, personally, had a number of phone calls from health-care workers were also asking for this," he said.
The news comes despite Saskatchewan reporting more COVID-19 deaths in 2022 than any year of the pandemic.
The province has also continued to record COVID-19 deaths in the first three months of 2023. The province's CRISP reports say the province recorded 137 deaths from COVID-19 from Jan. 1 to March 25.
SK Vax Wallet app ending
The province also announced that it will be decommissioning the SK Vax Wallet app used to display COVID-19 vaccination records.
Although the province ended the requirement to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter a business in February 2022, the app was still available to those who chose to use it.
Starting on April 17, 2023, the app will no longer accept updates. It will no longer be available for download on April 30.
Vaccination records will still be available on MySaskHealthRecord and can be printed or saved on a mobile device, the SHA said on Tuesday.
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