The provincial government announced several measures to help stem the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan Friday morning. The announcements were made by Premier Scott Moe in a conference with Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab, and the CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Scott Livingstone.  

Effective immediately, those who receive a positive COVID-19 test will need to self-isolate for 10 days after receiving the test result. For close contacts, those who are unvaccinated will also be required to self-isolate under the new public health order. Those who are fully vaccinated and identified as a close contact will not be required to self-isolate but will need to self-monitor for symptoms.  

To assist with increased pressures on the healthcare systems, there will be a reduction in non-critical and essential services. This is aimed at creating capacity for acute and urgent services. Temporary service disruptions are anticipated to be localized and time-limited and will be announced via the Saskatchewan Health Authority. To assist with the service reductions within the healthcare system, the SHA is purchasing 8,500 MRI and CT scans from private provides.  

A new agreement for flexibility in scheduling and placing healthcare workers in areas experiencing capacity issues is also in the works. A Letter of understanding that had been in place previously expired when the state of emergency was lifted in July. If agreements are not reached by Monday, the provincial government may sign another provincial emergency order to bring back the previous labour mobility provisions.  

For testing, the Ministry of Health and SHA are looking to expand capacity through third-party service providers as well as working to make more rapid-testing options available. The provincial government has secured an additional 1 million rapid testing kits from the federal government with the first 500,000 arriving sometime next week. It is expected that expanding access to rapid testing can preserve the SHA testing centre and lab capacity for those who are symptomatic or close contacts.  

Booster doses could also be an option in the coming months as well, with the first rollout for immunocompromised individuals and long-term care residents starting this week. Widespread access for the broader public is expected to begin in October, with booster shots made available for seniors at first, then expanding to the rest of the population through the winter.  

The provincial government also announced that proof of vaccination policy will be going into effect for all employees of the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Consultations are underway on the development of the policy and the implementation plan to require proof of vaccination or proof of negative test for all SHA employees.  

To assist with businesses, organizations, post-secondary institutions and municipalities that require proof of vaccination, they will soon be able to download an app to securely scan QR codes to verify vaccination records without retaining or viewing personal information. The verifiable record of vaccination is in the final stages of development and is expected to be launched the week of September 20th. Those who are registered for eHealth Saskatchewan’s My Sask Health Record will be able to download their vaccine record, including a unique QR code.