The leader of the provincial opposition party believes that the recent outbreak at the Parkside Extendicare in Regina could have been avoided.
The NDP’s Ryan Meili commented on the news of at least one resident and one staff worker receiving a positive COVID test at the care home. Meili believes this was another example of the provincial government letting down the residents of Saskatchewan. He was angered by the news of the recent outbreak at Parkside. “This is the center of the worst outbreak in the province and Scott Moe did nothing.” Meili added “The message was entirely clear, there needed to be no more four bed rooms, ventilation fixed, and in fact they should’ve just gotten people out of that awful place, where there had been so many viral outbreaks, we should not have seniors endangered in Parkside anymore and we shouldn’t have Extendicare Canada operating in this province, there’s no room for profit care.”
The way Meili received the news was also very upsetting to him. He said that he didn’t find out about the news of the outbreak until he was contacted by texts from family members of Parkside residents and as well from social media posts from staff workers, which the provincial NDP leader found embarrassing.
The outbreak at the Parkside Extendicare comes off the heels of the ombudsman report detailing failure to prevent and contain the outbreak from November 2020 until January 2021. Meili says the provincial government didn’t act on the recommendations from the report. “We need to make a clear decision, end the contract with Extendicare, take over the facilities, but also work needed to be done since that outbreak to keep people safe. We have clear reports that ventilation in that building is inadequate to keep people safe to prevent the spread of a virus, and they didn’t fix anything. We still have people able to go visit in long term health care homes without being vaccinated, with the ability to bring the virus in, this is a government that hasn’t taken this seriously, and if only two people died in a single seniors home within a short period of time isn’t enough for them to take action, all I can conclude is that Scott Moe doesn’t give a damn.”
The news of the Saskatchewan Roughriders not requiring proof of vaccination when entering the stadium is something that should be blamed on the provincial government according to Meili. “They don’t want to be serious about vaccinations, they’ve been refusing mandates, any incentivization, any of the the things they needed to do. This was a government that bragged for months on end, well, weeks on end because it didn’t last that long, weeks on end leading the nation in vaccine rates, that’s all they talked about last session, they got really, really quiet when we were in last place.”
On Monday, the Hamilton Ti-Cats, the Ottawa Redblacks, the Calgary Stampeders and BC Lions all announced that proof of vaccinations are required to attend their home games. Currently, the Roughriders along with the Edmonton Elks are the only CFL teams who are not requiring a proof of vaccination to enter their stadiums.
