Nurse Leah Sawatsky receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 15, 2020. (Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Health Authority)

By Brady Lang/CKOM News

‘A recipe for disaster:’ SUN responds to COVID rule loosening, new variants

Mar 10, 2021 | 4:41 PM

Tracy Zambory didn’t hold back her thoughts on the changes to Saskatchewan’s health orders that were announced Tuesday.

The president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) said upon hearing the news of expanding household gathering limits, she was immediately alarmed.

“We were very alarmed … (also) with the mixed messaging and confusion that is bound to come of it,” she said. “We have our medical community and health experts who are cautioning against any loosening of our public health orders. We know that the Saskatchewan Health Authority met with the physicians last Thursday, and the message from them was clear that we haven’t got ahead of COVID the way we need to. We cannot be loosening any restrictions.

“Yet our government does the exact opposite. It is (alarming) and frankly, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

The new rules allow for up to 10 at a gathering, rather than the previous order of just immediate members of that household. Zambory said that Tuesday’s change was “very, very troubling.”

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“We know that when we really got into it with COVID and cases exploded, that was contact-traced back to household transmission. And what have we gone back (to)? We’ve opened it up so you can have more people come into your house,” she said.

Along with Tuesday’s announcement on the loosening of public gathering limits came an updated tally of the COVID variants in Saskatchewan.

The province announced that an initial survey done by the Roy Romanow Provincial Lab found 35 more cases of variants of concern, including 28 in the Regina zone alone. On Wednesday, the government announced an additional 26 cases of variants.

Saskatchewan now has had 70 variant cases, including 64 of the U.K. variant and six of the South African variant.

Zambory said she feels like this news should be a sign of moving to “have harder cautions, rather than thinking that we’re going to lessen cautions.”

“The variants are not going to keep themselves in Regina — let’s be clear. The variants will spread across the province … This is a cautionary tale of what not to do, particularly when we know globally that there is a third wave,” she continued.

“It adds a really large, another layer of potential disaster. The variant in Regina, per capita, is one of the highest variant rates across the country. These variants are extremely dangerous, they’re highly transmissible and they lead to a higher mortality, a faster mortality. This is something that we have to take very seriously, yet we’re talking about loosening restrictions. Those two don’t go hand in hand.”

When asked how those in the medical community have been handling COVID over the past little bit, Zambory didn’t hold back on their concerns.

“We have been at this — as of (Thursday) — for one year straight. We are there to keep the health-care system going. It is disheartening to see that there doesn’t seem to be recognition for that. And now we’re going to start loosening rules at the very possible worst time we could be,” she said before saying the medical community is exhausted.

Zambory added the miscommunications within Tuesday’s media conference along with the move to loosen restrictions could lead to mistrust with the public in the government and the health-care system. Potentially, that could move people to not want to follow rules because the confusion around those rules has become too great.