NDP questions health minister’s knowledge of COVID-19 outbreak in Saskatchewan

REGINA — Saskatchewan’s Opposition is questioning the flow of information from the government about a COVID-19 outbreak at a hospital as the province loosens some of its restrictions designed to limit the spread of the disease.

NDP Leader Ryan Meili said he wants to know when the health minister was informed about a cluster of cases at the hospital in the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary city of Lloydminster.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has apologized for not informing the public and local officials about the outbreak sooner. 

The authority said it informed the Ministry of Health a couple of days before the outbreak was made public last Wednesday. Health Minister Jim Reiter said he was informed Tuesday evening and told Premier Scott Moe on Wednesday.

By that time, health officials said 13 staff members and patients had been infected.

Meili said the public deserves answers about an apparent breakdown in communication.  

“I don’t see how in the midst of this, in the midst of a pandemic which is all hands on deck, in which everyone is watching every single case across the province, how a new outbreak in a health-care facility, at a time when we’re talking about reopening a lot of businesses and other services, how that could possibly not make it’s way to the minister,” said Meili.

Reiter said Monday things could have been done quicker.

“I’m just not prepared to throw ministry officials under the bus,” Reiter said Monday. “Certainly I’ll accept some responsibility. Could it have been done more timely? Yeah, it certainly could have.”

The province announced 34 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, it’s largest increase in a single day. Of the new cases, 29 were from in and around La Loche, a remote Dene village 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, which is experiencing an outbreak.

The province’s chief medical health officer has said while the number of cases in the far north is concerning, the cases are mainly isolated to in and around La Loche. The increase in infections was to be expected as testing and contact tracing ramped up. 

Despite the case count, Saskatchewan pushed ahead Monday with the first stage of its reopening plan, which included medical offices such as dental clinics, optometrists and physiotherapists.

“It honestly feels really nice,” said Alison Matsyk, a physiotherapist in Regina and partner at Stapleford Health and Rehab Centre.

“You can already tell that there’s a sense of relief from people being able to access it again because there’s a lot of people out there that have that need.

“It brings a little more of that feeling of normal coming back.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2020

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press