It was an announcement that people had been waiting to hear: the provincial government was increasing the number of people allowed for private indoor gatherings from five to 10.
The restriction had been one of the most disliked that we’ve seen since the pandemic hit Saskatchewan more than a year ago. It was particularly contentious at Christmas time, when families used to big gatherings had to keep their numbers low.
If you had more than five people in your immediate family (say, two parents and four children) you could still have supper together, but nobody else in the home.
And if you have a family of four, you could have one other person in your home.
But a family of five wasn’t supposed to have an extra person in their home.
We’re not sure how vigilant this was followed, and if someone would actually rat their neighbour out if a family of five brought two more people into their home.
But if there were 20 people gathered in a home, it was a big Public Health fine waiting to happen, even on Christmas.
So we’re now up to 10 people for a private gathering. Sure the government talks about a limited number of bubbles, but how would you enforce that?
You might get a few people who will be opposed to this, who think that we’re moving too soon to ease this particular restriction. You’ll also have some who think that we should be able to have more than 10. But a lot would likely say 10 is a reasonable number at this time.
And as long as we’re smart, the increase to 10 people shouldn’t result in a surge in case numbers.
Lost in the shuffle of last week’s announcement was that churches could have up to 150 people present or 30 per cent capacity, whichever is lower, effective March 19. It’s a return to the number of people allowed in churches last summer, before Saskatchewan experienced a spike in the number of cases.
The increase in numbers for churches seems like on experiment. The province clamped down on a lot of activities and businesses last fall, including restaurants, retail outlets, movie theatres, gyms, casinos and bingo halls. It also imposed limitations on arenas and churches.
If you increase the number of people allowed in retail or restaurants or movie theatres, or if you reopen casinos, then everyone else will wonder “Why these businesses, but not us?” But if you allow for more people in churches, well, at least it’s a non-profit that has fewer restrictions.
Saskatchewan churches have been fairly respectful of these restrictions. Many didn’t open up for live services right away last spring once people were allowed to gather together and worship again.
There was the one super spreader in Prince Albert last fall, but Saskatchewan hasn’t had the issues with a few outlaw churches like in Manitoba.
And if you don’t have a surge in cases from churches reopening, then hopefully larger numbers will be allowed in other areas.
At the same time, it is ironic that a church that seats 500 can have 150 people, while Affinity Place, which seats close to 2,700, is limited to 30.
It’s also encouraging that the Estevan Comprehensive School and the Weyburn Comprehensive School can now have all students in classes every day once again, as opposed to have half of their students learning from home each day. With our numbers as low as they are in the southeast, it was frustrating that they couldn’t all be in school each day.
This gradual loosening of restrictions is encouraging. For those of us in the province’s South East Zone 4, we’ve often had a single-digit case count. While the rest of the province was being hit hard in late 2020 and early 2021, our numbers were fairly steady, even though we have more people than most rural sub-zones.
If we play it smart, then hopefully we can keep our caseloads stable, and start to see more people allowed in restaurants and retail.
If we think we know better than the medical experts, then we’ll lose some of the gains we’ve just made.
