(The Canadian Press)

By CKOM News

Child vaccinations coming, rapid test kits being prepared for distribution: province provides COVID-19 update

Oct 13, 2021 | 1:18 PM

Parents should be ready to get their kids between the ages of five and 11 vaccinated by November, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer said Wednesday.

Saskatchewan residents heard from the province Wednesday morning during a technical media briefing teleconference hosted by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s (SPSA) Emergency Operations Centre at 11 a.m.

The briefing was slated to”discuss current logistical information on the provincial response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a news release.

Present on the call as it began was SPSA president Marlo Pritchard, Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) CEO Scott Livingstone and the province’s chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab. The teleconference is the first time in 13 days Shahab has spoken publicly.

Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe was not present on the call.

New cabinet

Cockrill and Harrison take on new responsibilities as Premier appoints cabinet

9h ago

Warm weather continues

Warmer-than-normal weather continues through the weekend

10h ago

warrant issued

Former Sask. Mountie, convicted of breach of trust, now accused of voyeurism and accessing child porn

Nov 06, 2024

No patients yet sent out-of-province

Pritchard said a “significant” amount of planning went into a contingency plan for out-of-province patient transfers over the weekend.

Conversations between the SHA, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health and the province of Ontario facilitated the planning.

The province is currently trying to spread its support as widely as possible, Pritchard said, but has the plan in place in case Saskatchewan’s situation changes and patients need to be transferred out of Saskatchewan.

“We really appreciate the willingness of Ontario to engage with us in these discussions, but hopefully we will never have to use them.”

Province receives 1.9 million rapid test kits

This week, Saskatchewan received nearly 2 million rapid test kits. The plan for these kits is to unload them and plan for distribution in the coming weeks.

The kits are anticipated to be made available sometime next week.

One million of the kits — nearly half — will be relegated to the SHA’s Test to Protect program, which will distribute kits to schools, long-term care facilities, personal care homes, correctional facilities, childhood care homes, health care workers and businesses registered with the SHA for their workplace surveillance program.

The remaining kits will be distributed to the public at fire stations, hotels, local chambers of commerce, SPSA regional bases and SHA testing centres.

“Additional kits are on order and will be added to this public distribution upon their arrival,” Pritchard said.

The province of Saskatchewan has asked the federal government for one million kits per month to maintain supply for the public.

Pritchard said the kits are not individually packaged but have been bundled in groups of five.

“If the past is any indication, we know that these kits will be claimed quickly and the demand may outpace the supply,” he said.

Further details on locations and timelines for the distribution of the testing kits are expected to be announced later this week.

Secure isolation site reopens, COVID enforcement implemented

Pritchard said retired police officers are also being contracted “based on their skills they bring to the table, such as investigation, report writing,” to be part of a COVID enforcement team.

He said this will help prevent the need for any further specialized training of individuals.

The secure isolation site is also being reestablished to ensure that people who need to self-isolate but are refusing to follow the directions of public health officers will. Pritchard said the legislative process will help ensure this happens, and detention orders may be issued to people who do not comply with isolation requirements.

Pritchard added the reintroduction of these sites is to help prevent the community spread of COVID-19 and said the site is also available for people who don’t have a safe and effective place to isolate.

Provincial Emergency Operations Centre update

“The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is making progress in enhancing the provincial emergency operations centre (PEOC),” Pritchard said in his opening comments.

The group is meant to be in unified command with Saskatchewan’s health ministry and the SHA.

Pritchard said that since last week when the group was announced, key positions have been filled within the Ministry of Health, the SHA and the SPSA; section chiefs have started to “plug into” the existing SHA emergency operations centre they’ve been coordinating “operational and logistics activities” in an effort to alleviate some of the overwhelming workloads the SHA and Ministry of Health are currently dealing with.

The PEOC is meant to act as one source of information that is streamlining various information it is receiving, which Pritchard said is “proven to speed up decision making.”