‘Living with COVID’: Saskatchewan’s top doctor describes behaviour, actions in a post-pandemic world

Sunday marks Step Two of Saskatchewan’s Reopen Roadmap, which increases outdoor gatherings to 150 people and removes capacity limits at retail stores, restaurants and bars, as well as eases other restrictions.

Global News spoke with the province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, about lifting restrictions and why people should feel safe.

A: That’s something we will have to watch closely throughout the summer and even in the fall because we will see a variants coming out all the time … Now that we have a strong vaccination program, we have seen that the Delta variant is more transmissible. But data from the UK is showing that all three vaccines that are used in Saskatchewan are effective against the Delta variant and even for the Delta variant two doses are better than one.

So that’s why, in general, it’s important to complete your vaccines. But with the Delta variant, it’s even more important. And of course, the fact that public health measures remain in place in Step Two, that’s really important. We have to remember even when Step Three happens and we may end other public health measures or restrictions, masks will still be optional for those who are unvaccinated or at high risk … Similarly, we will all have to practice the principles that if you’re sick, stay home and get tested. The great thing now is that if you’re fully vaccinated with the two doses you no longer have to isolate at home.

A: The reopening in 2020 was in four phases and now it’s a bit faster, primarily because of vaccination. But obviously, we’ll be looking at case numbers, hospitalizations and other issues of concern. But we have to remember that globally, the pandemic is going to continue for maybe one to three years until such time that the entire population is able to get vaccinated. We have to see what the best situation is for us in our context – Saskatchewan, Canada, North America. Here we feel confident, not just us in Saskatchewan, but every province has established a real plan that we need to start living with COVID … At some point, we need to develop the confidence of living with COVID, which includes in Step Three gradually having larger and larger events. It won’t be immediately just like going to an event in 2019.

I think initially there will be lower attendance. Event organizers may say, we’re going to start off in July and August with maybe 30 per cent or 50 per cent attendance. People would like to keep some physical distancing among households. Those who want to wear masks, even outdoors, may wear a mask and that is fine. It actually gives all of us confidence. Given what we know about COVID, two weeks after your second dose there is great protection. Three weeks after the first dose there is some protection. But if you’re unvaccinated, you remain at risk.

A: For this fall, I think that’s a good thing to do, and then we’ll have to see how it goes. We hope that our case numbers come down really low, our hospitalizations – it’s all trending down. Last summer, it was pretty quiet in Saskatchewan, even though we had very localized outbreaks in the Northwest and in some communities in the Southwest. But last year, as we reopened, it remained pretty low, the case numbers, and then they started coming up in November. So we’ll have to monitor this year.

With a high vaccination uptake, we hope that even though we’ll have less restrictions, these small behaviors that we’ve learned will keep our case numbers low. Of course, if they start increasing, we’ll have to analyze to see if it’s mostly unvaccinated people getting COVID, which we’re still seeing when we look at our current cases. The vast majority of cases, 80 to 90 per cent, are in people who are unvaccinated and unfortunately, even in the ICU, that’s the principal … If we haven’t been vaccinated, we really need to make that decision and make that as early as we can, because that protects you, protects your family and protects your community.