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Province wants to see feds’ reopening roadmap plan

Here are some highlights from the latest COVID-19 news conference featuring Premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan chief medical health officer Dr.
Premier Scott Moe
Premier Scott Moe at Tuesday’s latest COVID-19 news conference. Facebook photo.

Here are some highlights from the latest COVID-19 news conference featuring Premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab:

The major headline from the news conference has been Premier Moe’s call for Justin Trudeau’s government to provide some clarity on their own “reopening” plan.

Moe said he wanted to see the federal government “provide some guidance and possibly some direction, or even a roadmap on what being fully vaccinated means in terms of things like travel.”

For instance, he said, will fully vaccinated Canadian residents still be required to quarantine for two weeks when they return to Canada from another country. Also, would the federal government develop some sort of electronic verification that indicates people are fully vaccinated.

“I would like to see the federal government provide some of that very clear guidance on these matters as soon as possible to further incentivize people to make they are not stopping at one shot of COVID(-19) vaccine, but make sure they’re going back and getting their second shot.”

As for the province, they continue to move forward with its own three-stage roadmap to reopening plan that was announced the previous week.

Premier Moe noted the first threshold was reached Sunday when 70 percent of everyone over 40 got their first shots. That means Step One re-opening can proceed in three weeks time on May 30.

Moe also noted they had made progress towards Step Two: as of Tuesday 61 percent of those resident age 30 and over also received their first shots.

The eligibility age is due to be lowered to 26 Wednesday, 23 on Friday and 20 on Sunday.

The Saskatoon drive thru clinic is due to reopen Wednesday and the Regina drive thru on Thursday.

The goal is to keep the drive thrus operating as much as possible but Moe said that will depend on vaccine supplies they receive.

Moe encouraged young people to take their opportunity to get vaccinated — to protect themselves and their friends and family members, and so “we can get back to normal” and back to doing the things they missed out on for the past 14 months.

Very shortly second doses would be delivered, and Moe noted soon that many people will be fully vaccinated.

Moe thanked Saskatchewan residents for following the public health orders and getting their vaccine, and encouraged people to roll up their sleeves not once but twice and to “stick it to COVID”.

Dr. Shahab cited the five most recent deaths from COVID-19 as a reminder to still follow public health measures and get vaccinated.

The vaccine uptake “will allow us to continue to have a safe reopening” as was previously announced, he said, and ensure “all the other activities that we enjoy be as safe as possible in the summer and getting into the fall.”