Covid Crisis and Saskatchewan Party government failure to deal with it effectively

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Thu, 2021-09-09 17:02

jerrym

As Covid spreads like a prairie grass fire in the province, the provincial nurses union are warning that "Leaving contact tracing to the public 'irresponsible".

The Saskatchewan Health Authority announced on Friday it would leave COVID-19 contact tracing to the public, but experts and critics say removing that service will only stress the health-care sector. In a news release, the SHA said that their new "modified approach" to contact tracing will place the responsibility of contact tracing on the COVID-positive person. The change means that the SHA will inform the person who has tested positive about how to trace, and leave it to them. "Leaving this up to the public to do is … absolutely irresponsible, and it's putting all of us at risk," Tracy Zambory, the president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses said, calling it an "dereliction of duty" by both the SHA and the government. "We have to be able to understand the transmission in our communities. Without that, we are really in a very vulnerable position." ...

Rising cases have stunted public health resources, the SHA said, making it difficult to contact trace fast enough. Zambory said she's spoken with nurses who feel extremely nervous about the province's current pandemic trajectory. ...

The province reported 389 new cases and 138 people in hospital on Sunday, although Zambory said she's heard from nurses that case numbers could be skewed by a work backlog. Contact tracing was, she said, an important part of Saskatchewan's offensive strategy. Now the health-care system will have to "brace for a storm that we can't see coming." Contact tracing can take hours and Zambory doesn't expect the public to follow-up. Those who do won't be able to do the job as well as trained nurses, she said. Zambory said nurses are feeling "demoralized" and "exhausted" from the overwhelming effect COVID-19 has had in the province.

Carolyn Brost Strom, a registered nurse who is a positive case investigator in the north central area of the province, said in a Twitter thread that nurses are clearly outnumbered in their fight. ...

"You are not going to win the championship (ie: end this pandemic) relying on defence alone (which is hospitals and ICUs), and with players on the injured list or free agency (staff burned out or leaving)," she said. "You need your offence (your testing, case investigations, contact tracing) to put you ahead … We need the public's help (our 13th man) and we need the coach to come back [out] of retirement/sabbatical (the government) to make the right policy decisions (masks, mandatory vaccines, mandate isolation)." Strom said that she, and others like her, need more help "from everyone." ...

Dr. Dennis Kendel, a health policy consultant, calls the government's decision "disappointing, one of the sort of bedrocks of controlling community spread of any virus is the test-trace-isolate triad," he said. "It's analogous to flying in the dark with no instruments ... you're going to crash into something."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/leaving-contact-tracing-to-the-...

Thu, 2021-09-09 17:16

jerrym

Saskatchewan now has the highest active Covid infection rate at 217 per 100,000 according to CBC News Network, illustrating the depth of the stress on the provinces healthcare system and the failure of the government to deal effectively with the pandemic.

Sun, 2021-09-12 18:42

jerrym

Saskatchewan doctors are warning are that the provincial government is downplaying the Covid crisis in the province.

Dr. Paul Olszynski has been working in Saskatoon emergency rooms for 14 years and he's never seen the system under as much strain as it is right now under the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There's a chance of a bad outcome if we don't do something now," he said.

On Wednesday, Saskatchewan's Ministry of Health reported 321 new cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths from the disease.

There are 134 infected people in hospital across the province, including 30 people under intensive care — the highest number of concurrent ICU patients since early May during the pandemic's third wave....

Nearly half of those currently hospitalized with COVID-19 — 44 people — are lying in Saskatoon's Royal University, St. Paul's and City hospitals, where Olsynzski works in the emergency departments.

"Unequivocally, we are under significant strain," he said, noting that it's a combination of non-COVID and COVID patients that's causing so much pressure, resulting in staff burnout. "People just unable to pick up shifts, take on more shifts, and in some cases, people pulling back a little bit because they don't feel like they're working in a safe environment or don't think they can provide the care that they think they should be able to," Olsynzski said.

Then there's the added challenge of a virus running "completely unchecked" among about 300,000 unvaccinated people, Olsynzski said. "That's essentially like unleashing the virus on all of Saskatoon." Further complicating matters is what Olszynski describes as a lack of support and recognition from the Saskatchewan government. "Our government officials have not identified the situation and presented it to the public," he said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/paul-olszynski-emergency-room-d...

Mon, 2021-09-13 16:02

jerrym

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is slowing and pausing some services due to 'unchecked spread of COVID' among unvaccinated but the media only learned of this through the leaking of an internal memo. Of course the memo doesn't discuss how the Moe and his Saskatchewan Party's government actions have contributed to the dire situation.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is slowing down and pausing its non-critical and elective services to focus on COVID-19 efforts, the province confirmed Friday morning.

CBC News first learned of the slowdown from an internal SHA newsletter that circulated to staff Thursday.

In it, SHA president and CEO Scott Livingstone wrote that "in the coming days" health authority leaders will work to implement changes to help cope with the extreme stress teams are under. The slowdown could affect surgical wait lists and "these types of services," he said. "The harsh reality is: there are no easy choices. We will slow down services, but that will have consequences too," he wrote. Livingstone's message went on to reiterate to staff that vaccines work and that unvaccinated people continue to clog up the province's health-care system.

"The unchecked spread of COVID among this population is escalating pressure on our hospitals and will result in Saskatchewan residents going without certain health services that they rely on to maintain their quality of life," he said.

"Not only are they choosing to risk their own lives by going without the protection vaccines provide, they are risking the lives of those they love and those in their communities." ...

On Tuesday, in another internal newsletter to SHA staff, Livingstone noted that, at the time, one in five Saskatchewan health-care workers were not vaccinated.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/covid-trigger-slowdown-healt...

Tue, 2021-09-14 20:04

jerrym

On Monday Saskatchewan set a new record for Covid infections, causing it to re-enact an emergency order to deal with a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations, as doctors continue to warn the system is on the verge of collapse and there is a shortage of medical personnel.

On Monday the province saw 449 new cases of COVID-19 – its highest single-day count of new infections during the pandemic.

The same day, it also re-enacted an emergency order to deal with a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. There were 209 people in hospital with COVID-19, 41 of them in intensive care.

The order, which previously ended July 11, gives the government the power to redirect health-care workers to areas experiencing pressure from COVID-19.

And the Saskatchewan Health Authority activated a plan to reduce elective surgeries in order to free up staff, mainly to care for unvaccinated patients in hospital with the virus.

“We can’t care for you when there’s nowhere to put you,” said Dr. Alexander Wong, an infectious disease physician in Regina.

“And it’s not just a matter of where. It’s a matter of no one to actually look after you.”

Premier Scott Moe said last week that 17,000 health-care worker shifts were unfilled in July, an increase of 160 per cent from the year prior.

Beds are limited as well. The health authority said it increased its 79 intensive care beds to 130 to accommodate a projected need for 80 COVID-19 intensive care patients, while also leaving beds for 50 ICU patients without COVID-19.

“The trends are not pointing in a safe direction right now,” Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said Friday.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-saskatchewan-re-enacts-em...

Tue, 2021-09-14 20:08

jerrym

On Tuesday Saskatchewan broke Monday's record for infections as the Covid crisis continues to worsen, with 20% being children.

Saskatchewan saw another record-setting day for COVID-19 on Tuesday, reporting 506 confirmed cases – 20 per cent of which were children who are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Of the 506 new cases, 436 were unvaccinated, 22 are partially vaccinated and 58 are fully vaccinated.

The Government of Saskatchewan has started releasing COVID-19 data for youth broken down into two age groups: 0-11 and 12-19.

On Tuesday, 101 of the 506 new reported cases were in the 0-11 age group. Children under 12 are not currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada.

Two people died after testing positive for the disease.

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-sets-another-daily-covid-19-record-with-5...

Wed, 2021-09-15 16:27

jerrym

When Alabama is warning Saskatchewan to not commit the mistakes it made with Covid you know the province is deep into the do-do.

It has one of the country's highest COVID-19 infection rates and lowest vaccination rates.

Hospital admissions are soaring, with many surgeries and other medical care cancelled or delayed.

For weeks, its medical community has called for indoor mask mandates and vaccine passports to curb the spread of COVID-19, but its political leadership repeatedly resists those calls, citing individual freedoms.

This describes the situation in Saskatchewan, but also the American state of Alabama.

Alabama health professionals interviewed by CBC News say their case numbers began to spike earlier than those in Saskatchewan, but the province is trending in the same direction. They say Saskatchewan should learn from the unnecessary tragedy and death sweeping their state. ...

In Alabama, overwhelmed nurses have been staging brief walkouts outside their own hospitals before their shifts in a "cry for help," but nothing seems to be working, said Lindsey Harris, president of the Alabama State Nurses Association.

"We are so tired," Harris said. "We are the backbone of the system. Nurses being on the front lines. Nurses being there when patients come in and when patients die. It is especially draining for nurses at this time. More people will die until we do what it takes."

They say the solution is simple: Leaders should make decisions based on expert advice and evidence, not political calculations.

"Vaccine passports and indoor masking mandates — those are the two things that could make the most difference right now. We know that. The science tells us that," said Dr. Paul Erwin, dean of the school of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "I can't speculate on why they haven't done it, other than their particular political persuasion."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/covid-saskatchewan-alabama-1.61...

Thu, 2021-09-16 19:33

jerrym

The crisis in Saskatchewan has gotten worse every day this week as Moe continues to flail away at dealing with the pandemic alternating between cracking down and doing little, while blaming the unvaccinated for causing the problem, which is partly true, but leaving out any apology for his action, which even Kenney was able to do, at least in a feeble apology that was followed by excuses for every one of the policies that he followed.

Saskatchewan reached two COVID-19 milestones on Wednesday, breaking 60,000 total cases so far, and 4,000 known active cases for the third time during the pandemic. The province has had 60,149 cases since the beginning of the pandemic and currently has 4,016 known active cases, according to the provincial dashboard. The last time Saskatchewan reached more than 4,000 cases was in January. The most known active cases the province has faced in the pandemic so far was 4,763 on Dec. 7.

Nationally, Saskatchewan has the third most active COVID-19 cases per capita, according to federal data. The province has 333 active cases per 100,000 people, behind the Northwest Territories (385) and Alberta (413).

However, Saskatchewan has the highest rate of cases over the past 14 days, with about 450 cases per 100,000 people.

Saskatchewan reported 475 new cases on Wednesday. Of them, more than one in three (about 35 per cent) are in people 19 or younger, and about one in five new cases are in kids 11 and under. About one in seven new cases (15 per cent) were in people who were fully vaccinated from the COVID-19 virus. Another 26 (six per cent) of new cases were in partially vaccinated people and 377 people (79 per cent) were in unvaccinated people. There were also two new deaths, both in the Saskatoon area.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/covid-19-saskatchewan-wednes...

Thu, 2021-09-23 19:34

jerrym

Saskatchewan doctors are calling out Premier Moe after he repeated "a statement he made the week before about Saskatchewan doctors needing to do more in order to quell disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines."

“I would hope that in the days ahead we could see our medical community really engaging, to take a direct look at some of the misinformation that’s being provided and provide some answers for Saskatchewan people,” Moe said. “I think we have a very active and engaged medical community, highly intelligent community that I think could really answer the bell as to what Saskatchewan people are looking for,” he said.

Tuesday evening, Dr. Tamara Hinz took to social media to convey her dismay at what the Moe said.

In a thread on Twitter directed at the premier, Hinz said, “It was more than disheartening to hear you talk today about how doctors should start publicly educating and talking to media to counter pandemic misinformation, as if we haven’t been doing this kind of advocacy from the start.” Within the thread, Hinz included multiple letters that had been addressed to the premier from the past year, asking for more stringent health policies when appropriate, which were signed by hundreds of doctors. Back in March 2020, we saw the writing on the wall and knew we needed more action from our political & business leaders. Our first open letter, signed by nearly 200 Drs, called for a move to encourage employees to work from home and businesses to move to a takeout/curbside model."

https://globalnews.ca/news/8213630/sask-doctors-react-premier-comments/

Mon, 2021-09-27 22:18

#10

jerrym

As the Saskatchewan Party and Premier Moe continue to fail to deal in any remotely effective way with Covid, the province sets new records for daily and active COVID-19 cases with "552 new cases on Sunday ... and active cases reached a total of 4,864." Although the federal government has offered to send " military, health-care workers to help with COVID-19 fight", Moe, like Kenney locked in an ideological view of freedom over lives, has refused to request them even though Covid the death rate since August 1st in Alberta and Saskatchewan is 2 to 4 times that of any of the other eight provinces.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government has not requested that the federal government send military or health-care workers to support the COVID-19 battle in hospitals, but has discussed other areas of potential assistance.

On Monday, Moe spoke with a Saskatoon-based radio program and said both COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions have more than doubled from Sept. 1 to Sept. 26.

"The pressure is very real. The pressure is quite extreme," Moe said.

He said more than 80 per cent of ICU patients are unvaccinated and they come from the 30 per cent of the eligible population who are not fully vaccinated. ...

Last week, Moe criticized the federal government for not doing more to get people on First Nations vaccinated.

"Our far north and Indigenous communities are running at a vaccination rate of less than 50 per cent — an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction," Moe tweeted. "I hope … [Trudeau] will work with Saskatchewan to increase the vaccination rate in these critical communities right away."

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Marc Miller called Moe's comments "alarming and unproductive." In an online reply, Miller said Moe has a "misunderstanding of his own health-care system and the role it plays" in northern Saskatchewan.

The province's far north regions are below the rest of the province when it comes to the percentage of eligible people fully vaccinated.

The far north central has 44 per cent fully vaccinated, the far northwest is at 49 per cent and the far northeast is at 54 per cent. The provincial average is 72 per cent.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-ottawa-covid-1.6191066

Thu, 2021-09-30 15:17

#11

jerrym

Premier Moe and the health minister are absent as the Covid crisis worsens.

Saskatchewan's official opposition is calling on the provincial government to return to providing weekly COVID-19 briefings as the province continues to battle the worst of the pandemic. NDP leader Ryan Meili called the lack of availability from the Saskatchewan’s premier and health minister an “unbelievable abdication of duty.”

CTV News reached out to Health Minister Paul Merriman with an interview request. According to a representative for Merriman, he may be available Wednesday.

“We are in the worst health crisis in the history of this province and [Merriman] has got nothing to say,” Meili said Tuesday. “I was asked the other day if he should resign, it seems like he already has.”

CTV News also contacted Premier Scott Moe’s office on both Monday and Tuesday for a response. His office has not responded to our requests.

During a press conference, Meili said the province has a responsibility to release the latest COVID-19 modelling, so that the public knows where the province’s healthcare system stands and what can be expected in the coming weeks. These calls from the opposition come as the province reported 311 individuals hospitalizedwith the virus, up 22 from Monday. Ten more Saskatchewan people reportedly died of the virus. ...

More than 500 cases have been reported in schools in the last two weeks - with 38 of those schools on the province’s active outbreak list. The government previously said it is prioritizing keeping kids in the classroom, meaning this school year – students who are deemed close contacts don’t have to self-isolate.

The NDP called on the government to change those procedures, saying it is possible to strike a balance between students' health and learning. “There’s a lot of room to look at for supports for parents to be able to isolate with their children. We’ve seen other provinces find a way to do this,” NDP education critic Carla Beck said. While contact tracing continues to be a challenge for schools, the NDP says increasing access to rapid test kits would help limit transmission. “We’re hearing from schools that they don’t have enough to perform rapid testing for their staff let alone the expectation that’s been put out into the community just go to your local school and get a rapid test,” Beck said.

There are no ICU beds available in the Far North West, Far North Central, Far North East, North West, Central West or South East. The province said these regions have never had ICU capacity. ...

CTV News asked the education ministry how many rapid test kits have been deployed to divisions – and when all schools can expect to have them.

The ministry did not respond to the question, saying “more information on the self-test at home pilot will be announced in the coming days.”

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/we-re-in-a-crisis-sask-ndp-calls-out-absence-o...

Thu, 2021-09-30 16:38

#12

jerrym

While Premier Moe and Health Minister Paul Merriman, who last spoke to the media on Aug. 25th until today, are rarely seen recently, the Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, warned today that "Saskatchewan is heading toward a "fall and winter of misery." At the current rate, he said, there may not be large holiday gatherings this year. "We will not only not have Thanksgiving at this rate, we will likely not have Christmas and New Years at this rate," Shahab said. "If things don't change, maybe other public health orders will be required," he added, noting it will be up to the government to decide what policies are put in place."

As Saskatchewan steadily breaks COVID-19 records, the province's top doctor warned of a grim end to the year while the health minister urged residents to "get vaccinated as soon as possible," reiterating that vaccines are the way out of the pandemic.

During an afternoon news conference on Wednesday, Paul Merriman said new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are "overwhelmingly" among those who have not yet received their shots.

Merriman last addressed the media on Aug. 25, when he had said that although there were signs the province was entering a fourth wave of the pandemic, the provincial government was not prepared to mandate vaccinations.

Since then, 90 people with COVID-19 have died in Saskatchewan, the number of people hospitalized has increased by 203 and ICU admissions have risen by 45. ...

While Saskatchewan schools have reported dozens of COVID-19 cases since the semester began, Shahab said schools "are not the source of transmission." Unvaccinated households are driving transmissions that are ending up in schools, he said.

One-third of cases in Saskatchewan are among school-aged children. ...

Saskatchewan's Opposition NDP is calling on the province to release its pandemic modelling, secure support from the federal government and modify the current isolation orders for children in schools. ...

When asked by a reporter Wednesday if he wanted to apologize for the government's handling of the pandemic amid this latest surge of cases, Merriman said he takes "responsibility for everything." But he also said he didn't regret not putting in policies to increase vaccine uptake earlier.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/health-minister-paul-merrima...

Thu, 2021-09-30 17:32

#13

NorthReport

What is it about right-wingers that turns them into compulsive liars and even endanger other people's health? Do they have recall legislation in Sask?

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatchewan/sask-party-mla-resigns-from...

Sun, 2021-10-03 19:32

#14

jerrym

The Covid crisis keeps getting worse in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan recorded 480 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, along with eight deaths and 418 recoveries.

Of the 480 new infections, 63 per cent are in eligible individuals who are unvaccinated and 21 per cent are in unvaccinated children under 12, who are not eligible for the vaccine.

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-reports-480-new-covid-19-infections-8-dea...

Sun, 2021-10-03 19:38

#15

jerrym

While the Saskatchewan Party Health Minister, Paul Merriman, who hid from the public from late August to late September hesitates to call the Covid situation a crisis, the doctors and nurses of the province have no hesitancy in doing so.

As Saskatchewan’s rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to hit record-breaking numbers, the chief medical officer of the province’s health authority says that she doesn’t see an end to their health-care crisis coming “in the near future.”

The comments from Saskatchewan Health Authority Chief Medical Officer Dr. Susan Shaw, who spoke with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, come just days after the province’s health minister expressed hesitancy at describing their health-care situation as a crisis or emergency, despite the province seeing a per capita rate of new COVID-19 cases three times the national average and a death rate of four times the national average. ...

In response to whether there was an emergency in the province, Shaw laid it out plainly: “I do think we’re in a crisis.” Shaw pointed to the province’s ICUs surging beyond usual capacity, forcing adults to be admitted to pediatric intensive care units usually reserved for children, as well as the suspension of hundreds of surgeries and procedures and the province’s organ donor program.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that people get the best care they can, regardless of what type of illness they have. But it is a real struggle,” said Shaw. “We’ve been facing increased numbers for weeks now and I don’t see an end coming in the near future.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8239012/saskatchewan-west-block-covid-crisis/

Fri, 2021-10-08 11:12

#16

jerrym

Scott Moe, frustrated by the soaring growth in Covid cases in Saskatchewan blames the high number of cases on conspiracy theories, avoiding his primary role in failing to implement public health measures to reduce the number of Covid cases (video included with url).

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe asked residents to quit listening to “social media nonsense” when it comes to gathering COVID-19 information.

Moe made the comments at Thursday’s press conference which was held to announce Saskatchewan’s Provincial Emergency Operations Centre would take over the province’s emergency response to the COVID-19 situation.

Moe proceeded to rattle off some of the latest conspiracy theories he’s heard of.

“For example, this week I’ve read and been talked to by a number of folks that I’m being paid off by the vaccine makers…well nothing could be further from the truth.”

“(Regarding the) latest emergency order that I signed; there’s a rumour that there’s a plot for myself or the Minister of Health to go out and seize people’s cows. Also not true.”

Moe said while these statements are absolutely ridiculous, they would be funny “if the consequences weren’t so serious today.” ...

“Believing in and spreading active anti-vaccine conspiracy theories is actually contributing to people dying from COVID by keeping them from getting vaccinated.”

Moe clarified that the emergency order he signed wouldn’t even give him the capability to seize anyone’s cows.

“If people want to use a horse dewormer, for example, or a cow dewormer to treat COVID-19, I’m not sure about the science behind that. A few weeks ago I had asked, there is an opportunity for our medical community to actually step in and explain what a horse dewormer like ivermectin actually is used for and why it might not be quite as effective when it comes to COVID-19.”

Ivermectin has been widely disproven by the medical community as a way of treating humans who test positive for COVID-19. ...

A joint message from the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSS), the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association, the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals, the Saskatchewan Medical Association and the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan said they disapprove the use of ivermectin “for either treatment or prophylaxis for COVID.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8252299/covid-19-scott-moe-conspiracy-theories/

Fri, 2021-10-08 11:18

#17

jerrym

Premier Moe continues to fail to act to reduce the exponentially growing number of Covid cases even though the province leads the country in its death rate and doctors are calling for increased restrictions.

While Premier Scott Moe's not ruling out changing anything in the future, he says Saskatchewan is staying the course on its COVID-19 restrictions.

As of Wednesday, there were 4,313 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. On that same day, Saskatchewan set a provincial record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, as well as for the number of people in intensive care units with the virus.

According to the federal government, Saskatchewan led the country in death rates over the last seven days. Saskatchewan also led all provinces in case rates over the last seven days, with only the Northwest Territories ranking higher.

While many of the province's doctors are calling for increased restrictions, Moe said Thursday Saskatchewan will stay the course. ...

"The vast majority of Saskatchewan people are vaccinated and we're not going to be implementing broad-based restrictions on 80-some per cent of the population that has gone out and got their first shot," he said. "That being said, we have significant measures that are in place." ...

"This pandemic is being prolonged by unvaccinated people — and there's no reason for it."

But Moe cautioned nothing was off the table when it came to COVID-19, although he did not say when any new restrictions might be considered.

NDP Opposition leader Ryan Meili said the time is now for more measures. "We are still seeing no gathering restrictions, still not seeing or even understanding that this government has made any clear asks when it comes to federal help," Meili said. "Those folks on the front line who are working so hard see a government that isn't even willing to ask for help to come and work alongside them."

Moe said new restrictions are unfair to those who are vaccinated.

But Meili said what's unfair is the burden being placed on the health system. "As long as our hospitals are filling up, as long as people are dying, that's what's not fair," Meili said, adding anyone who needs health care is affected because they are not getting the care they usually would. ...

Saskatchewan's health-care system has been under significant strain during the fourth wave. Over the last month, the province has slowed down many hospital services in an attempt to free up resources to create more ICU beds.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-premier-moe-cov...

Sun, 2021-10-10 23:33

#18

jerrym

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses are warning that Moe's non-solution won't work, just like everything else he has tried during this Covid crisis.

The president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses says it appears the Saskatchewan Health Authority doesn't have decision-making authority anymore in how its workforce should be used, after Premier Scott Moe announced the province's COVID-19 response is being centralized through the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre.

"And are we going to be still operationalizing as we should, with evidence and medical expertise?" SUN president Tracy Zambory said Thursday.

Earlier that day, Premier Scott Moe announced his plans to centralize the province's COVID-19 response through the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, an organization that is intended to streamline government response between ministries during what he called the "significant health-care challenge" presented by the pandemic.

The centre will be jointly led by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Ministry of Health.

Saskatchewan's health-care system has been under significant strain during the fourth wave. Over the last month, the province has slowed down many hospital services in an attempt to free up resources to create more ICU beds. ...

Zambory questioned whether the public safety agency's leadership has the expertise to manage the pandemic.

"We know that the provincial command has been used for different disasters that have happened in the province, [but] these are disasters that have either been weather-based or due to fire," she said. "So we're wondering how it is that now we can suddenly switch to the worst pandemic that's ever happened, that involves human beings."

Staff are at the breaking point and patients are already not receiving some of the care they need, Zambory said. She said she's heard that patients who should be in intensive care units are instead being admitted to medicine wards, because ICUs are full. ...

Instead of trying to rearrange scarce staff, Zambory said more restrictions would help alleviate the crisis. "We're creating more and more dangerous situations because there seems to be this refusal to put tighter public health orders on so that we can try to stem the tide of COVID that is ravaging our health-care system," she said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/zambory-nurses-covid-19-moe-...

Tue, 2021-10-12 12:17

#19

jerrym

Moe has left medical professionals out of the discussion as he continues to deal with Covid as a political issue with disastrous consequences. As a result of this, "Saskatchewan now leads the nation in new cases per capita over seven days, with a rate more than three-and-a-half times the national average."

Premier Scott Moe's message to Saskatchewan people ahead of the Thanksgiving long weekend was not to take extra precautions to bring down nation-leading COVID-19 cases and record hospitalizations — it was to explain a new structural response aimed at co-ordinating pandemic response.

In recent days, the provincial government's messaging on the fourth wave of the pandemic has diverged sharply from medical health officers in the Saskatchewan Health Authority, doctors and its own chief medical health officer.

Thursday's COVID-19 news conference, for the first time in recent memory, featured no appearance from Dr. Saqib Shahab or a representative from the health authority.

A week earlier, Shahab told the public the province was headed toward a "fall and winter of misery."

"We will not only not have Thanksgiving at this rate. We will likely not have Christmas and New Year's at this rate," Shahab said on Sept. 29.

With the province experiencing "a mass casualty event every day," Shahab said "maybe other public health orders will be required."

At a public board meeting last week, health authority CEO Scott Livingstone said the province was three weeks away from seeing doctors use medical triage procedures and may need help from outside the province to care for critically ill patients.

Neither Shahab nor Livingstone were a part of Thursday's COVID update.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-covid-19-fourth-wave-1....

Wed, 2021-10-13 22:40

#20

jerrym

Moe's complete botching of Covid and the resulting healthcare crisis have caused him to lose 18% in Premier popularity, more than any other Premier since June bringing him down to 43%.

The most sobering assessments from their constituencies are for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs, both of whom have seen their approval crash nearly 20 points in the last quarter, from 61 and 55 per cent then to 43 and 38 per cent now respectively.

https://angusreid.org/premiers-approval-october-2021/

Fri, 2021-10-22 23:16

#21

jerrym

As four to six patients a day are now undergoing medevac from Saskatchewan to Ontario showing the provincial health care system cannot cope with the Covid crisis, the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) are calling for additional public health measures to blunt the fourth wave while Moe sticks to his ideological conservative beliefs that have created this full-blown crisis. Moe says that mandated limits on events are off the table.

“We need more action now to lessen the harm Saskatchewan citizens are experiencing from COVID-19, as well as the trauma felt by those working in our health-care system,” SMA president Dr. Eben Strydom said in a news release.

The group’s proclamation comes in the wake of the news that Saskatchewan has been transferring patients to Ontario. ...

“The transfer of critically ill patients out of Saskatchewan to Ontario is a clear sign that our health system can’t cope,” Strydom said.

“This is not a medical challenge – it is a full-blown crisis that will only get worse as COVID-19 cases continue to jeopardize our ability to care for all Saskatchewan patients, even those who aren’t suffering from a COVID illness.” ...

The SMA and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) called for additional public health measures to blunt the fourth wave of the pandemic on Sept. 29.

At that time, the health system was already the pausing elective surgeries and suspending the province’s organ donation program to manage the strain from the pandemic, according to the SMA.

Modelling data shows ICU cases potentially doubling to 200 by Jan. 1, 2022 without additional public health measures and if people don’t immediately limit their contacts, Strydom said. He said the government’s present course is based on a mistaken belief that restrictions penalize the vaccinated.

“No one is penalized by public health measures that protect people and safeguard the viability of the health system, which is now strained beyond capacity.

“In fact, it’s the opposite. A lack of additional measures, which have proven effective during previous waves of the pandemic, puts people at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, puts further pressure on the health system, and jeopardizes the care of all patients in Saskatchewan.”

He said the province needs to be vigilant for up to four weeks until cases decrease to 10 per 100,000 people from the present 26 per 100,000 people, and ICU numbers drop substantially.

Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Katharine Smart also called for action.

"As a proud Saskatchewan doctor now living in the North, I urge Premier Scott Moe to adopt the following priorities. We urge the provincial government to increase vaccination rates through mandatory vaccination in health care settings; immediately institute circuit breakers; and seek help from other jurisdictions to provide additional support for workers and patients in need," she said in a news release.

"We have come too far for too long to allow this situation to continue. As we’ve said before, it is time for courageous action and a focus on collaboration. The people of Saskatchewan deserve better."

Premier Scott Moe said earlier this week that mandated limits on gathering sizes remain off the table.

https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/full-blown-crisis-sask-doctors-association-...