Protest outside Saskatchewan health minister’s office calls for public health measures
“Everybody is dying!”
It was a song led by protesters outside Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman’s office on Wednesday afternoon.
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The parking lot was packed with concerned residents, current and former healthcare professionals, and frontline workers calling on the province to do more to protect its people.
With the number of new cases at an all-time high and emergency rooms and ICUs filling up, protesters have said they want public health measures to be reinstated.
“The only choice they have is to act now and save lives, or act in a month or weeks and see more people die and potentially lose more Saskatchewan Party voters,” the student said. molecular scientist, Dr. Kyle Anderson, speaker at the rally. .
Organizers say the province has taken too many hands-off approaches, including no longer conducting its own contact tracing.
Organizer Theresa MacKinnon, a retired public health nurse, said: “If you’ve been tested for COVID and you’re positive and you’re out grocery shopping today, no one will stop you and penalize you.
“This is wrong.”
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Several former and current health care providers were among the protesters. They said their colleagues were frustrated by the lack of support.
The Saskatchewan Nurses Association says many are overworked and overwhelmed as ICUs see a “large volume” of COVID-19 patients, many in their 20s and 40s.
Union president Tracy Zambory said: “They are finding themselves almost drowned by this influx of understaffed patients.
“There is fear about not being able to provide safe patient care, that there will be a catastrophic event, and that there will be a significant amount of fallout.”
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She said SUN wants the province to restore mandatory public health measures, as well as consider reducing the speed of medical service delivery to focus treatment staff for the growing number of new COVID-19 patients. increase.
One protester said the province needed control.
“Citizens don’t have the right to just do these things, because we know personal accountability doesn’t work, but we know the mask regulation does,” said John Cameron.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili said at the rally that he wanted Saskatchewan to follow the lead of other jurisdictions.
“Bring your masks, vaccination duties, if appropriate, schools, hospitals, major public events and do your testing, tracing. These are the key elements where we know what works,” says Meili.
In an email, the province said it is continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation and will continue to work with the Saskatchewan Health Authority on the system’s capabilities.
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