Premier Scott Moe to reduce regulations despite pleas from health care workers
By Jacqueline Gelineau
The Saskatchewan government has loosened restrictions despite having the highest national COVID-19 infection rate per capita, being the Canadian epicenter of COVID variants of concern (VoC) and “hospitals running at overcapacity” says a former physician, anaesthesiologist and council member of the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr BrianBrownbridge urges the provincial government to “take the politics out of the response”and prioritize the health and safely of citizens when making decisions that impact the public.
In a press release on March 9, the Sask party announced that restrictions preventing indoor gatherings have been lifted, causing upset among frontline workers
“If you’re going to make choices of not shutting down, not reducing potential exposure and increasing your death rate, then you should have the agreement of the population that that’s a fair balance. And I’m not sure that discussion has happened,” says Dr Brownbridge.
Healthcare workers feel like they have “lost influence” as discussions of COVID restrictions become increasingly politicized, he adds. “Over 400 physicians signed a petition asking [the government] to shut bars and restaurants and it never happened in Saskatchewan”.
Public pressure has influenced the decision of the provincial government to allow households to form bubbles of up to three households. Loneliness and mental health issues are more prevalent than ever in Saskatchewan as social distancing takes its toll on the population. Alex Senger, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Saskatchewan has noted a dramatic increase in substance use disorders, caused by the stress and isolation of the pandemic. “We see a lot more alcohol related issues than other years in the internal medicine department”. Senger attributes the increase in alcohol use disorder to the loss of social supports like friends and family while having to isolate.
During the March 9th press release, available on the Sask Party Facebook Page, Premier Moe cited the reduction in daily infection rate as supporting evidence to reduce provincial restrictions, despite hospitals being overcapacity and concern over the surge in VoC. “Regina, SK has high rates of the dangerous [UK]VoC and reducing restrictions could cause a surge in transmission” says medical student Alex Senger.
“[Even though] cases are going down in Saskatchewan, they’re still high and the hospitals are on fire with people that [need to be taken care of], and there’s not enough space,” says Senger.
“It feels like a lot of people don’t know how bad it is [in the hospital]” and because of that don’t realize the implications of reducing restrictions, says Senger.
Amanda Ho is an emergency department nurse at St Pauls Hospital in Saskatoon who has been caring for patients with COVID. Ho would like to see “enforced interprovincial travel restriction [because] people are still travelling interprovincially and not self isolating after they get back” causing an increased spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants.
Ho has found it challenging and upsetting to work in the busy Saskatoon emergency department because “Operations, procedures, and inpatient care has been heavily restricted by the lack of resources available to hospitals and because of safety measures in place to prevent spread of the virus within the hospital” says Ho.
Saskatoon Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are over capacity with COVID patients which strains healthcare resources, resulting in difficult decisions being made regarding allocation of resources and patient care” says Senger
“ I would like to see more consistent public health guidelines that make sense and are easy to follow,” says Senger.
The Saskatchewan Government has been providing the public with daily updates on their facebook and twitter. For more information on current restrictions, visit Scott Moe’s facebook page or the government of Saskatchewan website.
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