Sask. physicians decry relaxed restrictions after Health Authority presentation says teams are 'drowning'

A host of Saskatchewan physicians are airing their frustrations about the provincial government's change to isolation and close contact policies, despite the fact that the health authority called the current COVID-19 pandemic situation an "emergency." 

The move to relax restrictions came before the health authority's statement. 

On Thursday, when Saskatchewan announced that it would relax restrictions on close contacts and isolation for unvaccinated people it cited the change as a "transition to adapt to the challenges of the current Omicron wave," taking into account the increased transmissibility of the variant, the wide use of rapid testing and the effectiveness of vaccines. 

Previously, unvaccinated residents who tested positive had to self-isolate for 10 days. That has been reduced to five days. The province also no longer requires close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases to self-isolate.

These new rules took effect on Friday. 

Dr. Carla Holinaty, a family physician in Saskatoon, said she was shocked that the government decided to reign in policies when they knew the situation is bad in the province.

She said it's becoming "harder and harder" to present up-to-date information about COVID-19 "when the picture that's being painted by our government is very different from what the science and the data from our own province is saying."

Holinaty is worried it will affect the public's trust in their health care workers.

Last week, the provincial health authority modelling for COVID-19 anticipated record-breaking COVID-19 hospitalizations in February, but Holinaty said it seems like the government isn't listening.

She said it was a "moral blow" to health care workers who when the province reduced restrictions despite rising hospitalizations, ICU admissions and overcapacity at larger hospitals.

Dr. Jon Dean, an assistant professor of general internal medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, posted on Twitter that he is "reeling" from information provided at the physician town hall.

He compared information about this Omicron-driven wave being the "toughest wave in Saskatchewan yet," and "staffing pressures in all sectors," to a post from the Saskatchewan government outlining the changes to close contact and isolation policy.

"If [health care] professionals were in any other job, we would've left by now," he wrote. 

"WE are committed to Sask patients. But [the Saskatchewan government] isn't making it easy."