Under the public health orders in effect in Saskatchewan right now, mingling between households is only allowed under very specific circumstances: either you must be a single-person household yourself or you must be outside or in a public place. People who were hoping for good news on that front last week did not get it. 

Though many people have gone months without seeing certain relatives or close friends, the province is asking them to be patient just a little while longer. COVID fatigue has been a common phenomenon as the pandemic approaches the anniversary of its arrival in Saskatchewan, and restriction fatigue may be setting in as well. 

"The reality is that we see transmission in households very quickly," said Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab. "That can negate all the ground we've covered. We did see over the holidays that it was hard that families couldn't get together the traditional way... but there were people meeting outside and that didn't lead to as much transmission as if these regulations weren't in effect."

Nonetheless, some Saskatchewan residents may be getting fed up with the regulations, even if they seem to be working. Provincial limits on gatherings have been in effect since mid-November, and the earliest they would be up for review is March 19. 

"There was a lot of back and forth on how do we control the spread of COVID-19 and still provide those opportunities for families to visit and not lose touch with one another," said Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. "There are impacts to further measures, in particular, if they need to be in place for a number of months."

The Premier singled out youth recreation as one area there had been a lot of consultation (and pushback) on. He felt the restrictions they arrived at (practices but no games) were a good balance.

"When you look across the nation at where many provinces have been forced to go to with respect to youth recreation," he said, "we've been fortunate in Saskatchewan. We've been fortunate because of the great effort that Saskatchewan people have made."

Moe added that with the province extending the measures for another four weeks, there were better days on the horizon. "We're in the final stretch and there is hope on the way," he said.