Leader of the Official Opposition Ryan Meili said during a press conference on Monday the public deserves more clarity regarding the province’s delayed response in communicating the northern Saskatchewan COVID-19 outbreaks.
“With a growing number of local outbreaks, the health minister should be doing everything possible to provide the public with timely information they can trust,” said Meili.
“Unfortunately, that trust was shaken last week. We need clear and complete answers for why the public was told repeatedly that the outbreak in La Loche was under control, why the decision was made to delay notifying people about the outbreak in Lloydminster, and what the minister is doing to improve communication and co-ordination,” he added.
Meili said the Saskatchewan Health Authority has said that the Ministry was notified of the Lloydminster outbreak on Sunday April 26 or 27, but the public was not notified until Wednesday, April 29.
An outbreak that has since infected dozens of people in that community and spread to Prince Albert, Beauval and other communities in the northwest.
Health Minister Jim Reiter said in a teleconference on Monday while he would like to be informed as soon as possible, he thinks it is important to be patient enough to let officials work.
Reiter said they would have liked to have the outbreak announcement handled in a timelier manner and added everyone involved could have done better in this particular case.
“The buck stops with the minister. Certainly, I’ll accept some responsibility,”
“Could it have been done more timely? It certainly could have and we are going to endeavour to make sure it is. I took some comfort in what happened with the reporting in Prince Albert and I am comfortable going forward it will be done more timely in the future,” said Reiter.
Reiter said going forward a lot more has to be done to handle the current outbreaks in northern Saskatchewan.
“We have got to get the job done there. There is obviously a far too high rate of infection there, we have to get testing done quickly, we need citizens to help with this as well obviously just like everywhere else in the province,” said Reiter.
Reiter said although there are remaining outbreaks in Saskatchewan, he is comfortable moving forward with the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan.
“I am comfortable where we are at with this. I think by being cautious we have managed to keep our numbers low,” said Reiter.
“I think it is important that we continue to do that,” he added.
