SHARE ON: |
| |
| |
 |
 |
|
|
On the day Saskatchewan asked the federal government for help to deal with surging COVID-19 hospitalizations, Premier Scott Moe granted the province could have acted sooner on a renewed mask mandate or proof-of-vaccination policy.
Health officials also announced that six intensive care patients were being sent to Ontario to relieve overwhelmed staff. The first patient was to go to Ottawa on Monday and another five were to be sent to Ontario by Wednesday.
The province said each patient transfer would cost at least 20,000 and the government would also pay to have two family members go with each patient.
This is being done to ensure they continue to receive the very best possible care that is available, Moe said at a news conference.
When asked about his handling of the pandemics fourth wave, Moe said: Potentially we could have moved a week sooner with a mask mandate, or even sooner with the vaccination policy that we brought into place.
Masks in indoor public places were brought back Sept. 17 and proof of vaccination became necessary Oct. 1 to get into restaurants, bars, movie theatres, gyms, concert venues and ticketed sporting events.
The office of federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed it had received and was reviewing a formal request for assistance from the Saskatchewan Party government.
There were 124 people in the provinces intensive care units Monday -- 157 per cent of normal capacity.
Saskatchewan has been running out of hospital space and staff for several weeks. Elective and urgent surgeries have been cancelled and the province has suspended its organ donation program.
About 175 health-care workers have been redeployed to ICUs across the province.
Our teams are under significant strain and have been under those conditions for a number of weeks now, said Derek Miller, executive director of the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
It is very stressful on our front-line teams to be able to support this level of surge for this length of time, and thats a major factor in moving ahead.
Marlo Pritchard, in charge of the emergency operations centre, said the province reached out to health-care jurisdictions across North America asking if staff would be available to come to Saskatchewan.
We made requests looking for those skilled individuals and, when those ended up not being able to provide the resources we were hoping for, we now reached out to the federal government this morning, he said.
Moe had rejected assistance from the federal government, which initially offered to help Saskatchewan with its fourth wave in late September. The premier said at the time that Ottawa would likely be able to provide enough staff for two ICU beds and his province was being realistic about Ottawas finite resources.
On Monday he said he got that number based on taking essentially per capita of what (the federal government) sent to Alberta.
Ottawa sent eight military critical care nurses to Edmonton earlier this month.
Pritchard said its unknown how many critical care personnel Ottawa might be able to send to Saskatchewan through the Canadian Red Cross and the military. Health Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dr. Michael Warner, clinical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto, said Ontario has enough resources to help Saskatchewan.
If we dont move patients out, other patients who end up to hospital in Saskatchewan would not be able to get the care they need at all.
Saskatchewans population is smaller than some areas of Toronto, yet its current rate of hospitalizations is worse than Ontario ever experienced, Warner said.
Saskatchewan reported a record 85 COVID-19 patients in ICUs on Monday -- the equivalent to 1,061 in Ontario, Warner said.
At our peak in wave three, we only had 891 COVID-19 patients in our ICUs ... I dont actually know how Saskatchewan is able to cope.
On July 11, Saskatchewan removed all public health orders, including a requirement to self-isolate upon receiving a positive COVID-19 test. Warner said removing the restrictions played a role in the provinces fourth wave.
For a month, health-care workers and the Saskatchewan Opposition asked the province to accept federal aid to alleviate pressure and to avoid sending patients away for treatment.
This was entirely avoidable, NDP Leader Ryan Meili said.
Just further evidence of a premier who refuses to take any responsibility for his own failures and his own actions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2021.
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
6 pm |
| 22 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: NW 2 KM/H
GUSTING TO 3 KM/H |
|
|
|
7 pm |
| 22 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: NNW 8 KM/H
GUSTING TO 10 KM/H |
|
|
 |
8 pm |
| 22 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: NNW 10 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
|
9 pm |
| 21 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: NW 9 KM/H
GUSTING TO 8 KM/H |
|
|
 |
10 pm |
| 19 ℃ |
| MODERATE RAIN |
WIND: WNW 13 KM/H
GUSTING TO 22 KM/H |
|
|
|
11 pm |
| 18 ℃ |
| MODERATE RAIN |
WIND: WNW 15 KM/H
GUSTING TO 29 KM/H |
|
|
|
12 am |
| 16 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: NW 12 KM/H
GUSTING TO 23 KM/H |
|
|
|
1 am |
| 15 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: NW 10 KM/H
GUSTING TO 16 KM/H |
|
|
|
 |
TODAY |
HIGH OF 23 ℃
LOW OF 16 ℃ |
| MODERATE RAIN |
|
|
|
TUESDAY |
HIGH OF 25 ℃
LOW OF 15 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
 |
WEDNESDAY |
HIGH OF 21 ℃
LOW OF 13 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
|
|
|
THURSDAY |
HIGH OF 21 ℃
LOW OF 12 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
|
|
|
FRIDAY |
HIGH OF 18 ℃
LOW OF 14 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
SATURDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 14 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
SUNDAY |
HIGH OF 20 ℃
LOW OF 14 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
MONDAY |
HIGH OF 19 ℃
LOW OF 11 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
DYLAN MARLOWE
YOU SEE MINE
06:43 PM |
|
 |
BROOKE EDEN
PARTY WHEREVER WE GO
06:39 PM |
|
 |
MITCHELL TENPENNY
FALL BACK IN IT
06:37 PM |
|
 |
GORD BAMFORD
ON MY BEST DAYS
06:33 PM |
|
 |
CHASE WRIGHT
OFF TO THE RACES
06:30 PM |
|
 |
BRIAN KELLEY
GOIN PLACES
06:27 PM |
|
 |
BRANTLEY GILBERT
DIRTY MONEY
06:23 PM |
|
 |
ERIC BURGETT
TOWN YOU NEVER HEARD OF
06:19 PM |
|
 |
KANE BROWN
RESCUE
06:17 PM |
|
 |
LAUREN ALAINA
THE OTHER SIDE
06:11 PM |
|
 
|
