The Saskatchewan government announced that a new public health order will come into effect on Monday.

Proof of vaccination or negative test will now be required for seated dining in all restaurants including fast food, liquor manufacturers conducting liquor sales and liquor stores with permits to hold liquor restaurant or tavern permit.

Proof of vaccination will not be required for pickup and delivery, entering a food court or entering a washroom.

The province held a media briefing earlier today to provide the on the response to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saskatchewan’s Chief Health Medical Officer is disappointed with the amount of vaccinations in Saskatchewan as compared to other provinces.

Dr. Saqib Shahab is hopeful that the recent trend of an increasing amount of people getting vaccinated over the last couple of weeks continues

Shahab says that the province’s vaccination rate should be higher. “Large urban areas in Canada are in the high 90’s now with the first dose and second dose. I don’t want to accept that we in Saskatchewan should be behind anyone. It doesn’t matter if you live rural, urban, it does not matter, there’s no excuse not to get vaccinated.”

The provincial government is reporting that 84% of the province have received their first dose of the vaccination, and around 75% are fully vaccinated.

Tomorrow is the deadline for healthcare employees in the province to declare their intentions when it comes to their vaccination status.

The SHA has installed a mandatory proof of vaccination policy for all health care workers.

Derek Miller from the SHA says that an overwhelming majority of employees intend to be fully vaccinated. “The declarations that have submitted so far indicate that they are or will be immunized by early November that’s 98% of the respondents, 1% have indicated that they plan on entering the monitored testing program and the other 1% approximately have indicated they will be seeking medical or religious accommodation.”

While Saskatchewan hasn’t requested extra support to free up ICU beds from Ottawa, they have asked for support in others areas. The federal government will soon be sending out rapid tests to Saskatchewan.

Marlo Pritchard from the Sask. Public Agency says the tests should begin to arrive in November. “This week we also reached out to the federal government for 8 million rapid test kits, we already receive approval from the federal government to get 4 million delivered in November and we have a request for an additional 4 million for December. We continue to work on a plan for distributing throughout the province.”

Saskatchewan has said that they have held discussions with Ontario about sending out ICU patients, today says they have also discussed the possibility with Manitoba as well according to Pritchard. “We are focusing on ensuring we are utilizing every provincial resource possible to care for people in Saskatchewan before patients are transferred anywhere. This process is about preplanning and ensuring that a seamless contingency plan is in place in case of a need for out of province transfer, but again that has not been needed.”

The province is planning to hold another briefing on COVID-19 sometime next week.