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March 29, 2024 02:58

Premier Moe: “Continue to pull together by staying apart.”

Saskatchewan had been able to say that it had no known cases of COVID-19 in senior care facilities, but that all changed on the afternoon of April 2. A staff member of Regina’s Eden Care Assisted Living facility, who had been identified through contact tracing, tested positive for the virus. CEO of Eden Care Communities, Alan Stephen said that at present no other staff members or residents are showing any symptoms, but as a precaution any residents who had been in contact with the staff member will isolated and carefully monitored for symptoms for the prescribed 14 days and all residents will be checked twice daily for temperature and other symptoms. Public Health confirmed that the employee had been in contact with three other staff members and one resident, all four employees are self-isolating and monitoring. Three other staff members have self-isolated as a precaution and are monitoring for any development of symptoms. The facility is on strict lockdown and baseline temperature readings have been conducted on both staff and residents. No visitors are allowed into the facility and no admissions or transfers will occur until further notice. The Eden Care facility is operated by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

As of today, all staff working at long-term care homes in the province will have their temperatures taken at the beginning of each shift and will be checked for any symptoms of COVID-19. Questions have been raised as to why all senior care facilities are not ordered to follow the same guidelines as those operated by the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Shahab stated that each facility is different and that like it is left to employers to determine the best practices for their businesses, so to it is left up to the operators of personal care homes to determine what is the best practice in their individual case. Dr Hennink, Regina’s Medical Health Officer, commented that while it may not yet have been ordered by the government, he would strongly encourage other care facilities to follow the guidelines set out for long term care facilities.

As  residents of Saskatchewan continue to request more information about where positive cases are located in the province, the Privacy Commissioner has spoke out on the matter saying that it would not be a privacy concern to reveal the geographical location of individuals testing positive to COVID-19. While Dr. Shahab continued to say that it is not necessary to provide that information, Premier Moe said that as the situation continues to evolve in the province that may be something they will look at in the future. As for now, Premier Moe told people to “Keep your guard up.” With the arrival of the weekend people may be tempted to relax on the physical distancing he said, but the message is simple, “Just don’t.” The take away comment of Premier Moe’s is this, “Continue to pull together by staying apart.”

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