Premier Scott Moe has gone to his Facebook page to announce additional measures to deal with COVID-19.
Mandatory masking is once again being implemented, government employees are going to have to be vaccinated or receive negative tests and a proof of vaccination policy is coming.
The update comes as Saskatchewan battles with the fourth wave of COVID-19 that has been the worst with Wednesday’s report from the government showing 475 new cases with many of them in children aged 0-11 who can’t be vaccinated due to their age. A wide majority of cases also come from people who remain unvaccinated. It is because of those people excluding those who can’t because of their age why Moe says the actions that will be announced later Thursday is happening.
He provided a sneak peek as to what will be said in a video posted to his Facebook account,
As a government, we have been patient with those who have chosen to remain unvaccinated. But the time for patience is over. Today, our government will be announcing additional steps we are taking to protect our health system capacity, while also ensuring that Saskatchewan can continue to move forward.
Posted by Scott Moe on Thursday, September 16, 2021
Last week, Moe said the government would not re-introduce a mask mandate or make vaccines mandatory. Earlier this week after a record 505 cases were announced, he issued a statement saying he continues consulting with Shahab about what plans will be made moving forward and that “enacting additional measures have not been ruled out”. He also said the government’s concern remains high when it comes to the significant pressures being created on the healthcare system because of the increased cases.
The update comes one day after Alberta introduced a wide range of new public health measures in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 cases from overwhelming the province’s health-care system.