The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said it is strengthening screening and mask requirements at all health facilities in the province as it deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
The health authority announced the new measures as the province reported one new COVID-19 case Tuesday, and nine new recoveries.
Starting Wednesday, all staff and doctors working in patient, client and resident care areas will be required to wear a mask at all times — even if they are just passing through those areas.
Staff, doctors, learners, trainees, vendors and contractors will also be screened daily as they enter any SHA facility or program area to ensure they do not have any influenza-like illness.
SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said it is another escalation in an effort to protect patients and health care workers.
“Safety is our top priority,” Livingstone said.
“Requiring these daily screening practices and adapting our approach to masking will help us stop the spread of COVID-19 and help protect our workforce to ensure our health care services are there when needed.”
Livingstone doesn’t believe continuous mask usage will impact the current supply of masks.
“Today, people may don a mask and then move out of an area and discard it because they might not think they’re coming back to that area,” he said.
“But with a continuing masking policy, we feel that we do have enough masks to provide that not just for ourselves, but for our affiliates and other partners.”
The SHA said it currently has roughly a month’s supply of essential PPE, including N95 respirators and gloves, based on current usage.
Livingstone said they continue to monitor daily usage across the province as the SHA pursues new purchases.
“We’ve started to see a trickle come in from the federal government as per the allocations that they’re working on,” he said.
“We’ve ordered four to five to six times the quantity that we would normally order over and above what… our normal standing orders are.”
Livingstone said those standing orders remain in place.
The SHA said screening measures will be phased in throughout other facilities, including long-term care homes.
Livingstone said another area they are working on is addressing the concerns of staff working at multiple long-term care homes.
“Today, we have a number of staff that work at more than one facility. It approaches almost 20 per cent in long-term care,” Livingstone said.
“To be able to ensure that we’re not just protecting the people inside the facilities and those people that work inside the facilities, we need to ensure we have the staff available to properly care for those folks.”
He said there are several factors that have to be considered before implementing a plan.
“It’s not as simple as saying ‘you’re going to work in this facility, you’re going to work in that facility,’” Livingstone said.
“People have guaranteed hours, they have work skill-sets that might not be moveable to other facilities, and we need to follow the right process to be able to do that.”
Livingstone said they hope to have a more definitive plan in place within the next week.
The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses welcomes the twice daily temperature checks and masking policies, said president Tracy Zambory, and is encouraged to hear the province is considering cohorting.
Cohorting would essentially mean assigning health care workers to specific groups of patients or residents requiring care.
“SUN and all the other health care unions have been calling on it for weeks,” Zambory said. “We think it’s simple. It could happen quickly.
“We know that part of the reason it’s not is staffing,” she said. “We do have a workforce that’s reliant on casuals and now they’re find out that when you cohort, if someone is working in three or four different facilities and then they have to cohort one, the other facilities that they work at then are struggling.
Zambory said she expects the health authority is having to work through the logistics before issuing a strong start date for cohorting.
“The employer has always had the ability to staff up and they may have to in this instance,” she said.
Health officials reported one new novel coronavirus case in the province on Tuesday, the fewest new cases in a 24-hour period since March 16.
The total number of cases reached 301 since the first presumptive case was reported on March 11.
Another nine people have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 187.
Officials say 110 cases remain active and seven people are in hospital — none in intensive care.
Of the total cases, 34 are health-care workers. Officials said 19 have recovered and noted that the source of the infections may not be related to providing health care.
Health officials said 131 cases in the province are related to travel, with 121 due to contacts or mass gatherings. Another 27 have no known exposures and 22 are still under investigation.
The Saskatoon region has 147 cases, Regina 65 and the north region 57 cases.
The south region has 15 cases, the central region 10 cases and the far north seven cases.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are legally obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, beginning March 26, in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others. Some provinces and territories have also implemented additional recommendations or enforcement measures to ensure those returning to the area self-isolate.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.
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