Regina’s incumbent mayor says he doesn’t want to see more province-wide restrictions put in place due to COVID-19.

Michael Fougere says he is encouraging residents to stay safe this Halloween weekend to avoid a spike in COVID numbers in Regina. This would be to avoid restrictions like the ones being placed on Saskatoon bars and nightclubs this weekend.

Fougere says it’s better to take a regional approach to COVID-19.

“There’s hotspots across the province,” Fougere said. “it’s important that we keep this in perspective and not hurt and have a debilitating circumstance for businesses, individuals or places of worship that are not affected by this at all.”

While Fougere was in favour of province-wide measures when the pandemic began, he says he’s taking the advice from the Saskatchewan Health Authority on managing the pandemic.

“We’re also in the second wave right now, and we were in a very different circumstance before,” Fougere said. “This is all following the public health authority, so I’m not saying anything that’s offside from there. I’m simply reiterating what (Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab) has been saying and it’s very important that we follow these rules.”

With Regina having the most active COVID-19 cases they’ve seen, Fougere says the public should take their own steps to remain safe.

“This message has been a consistent theme throughout COVID since March; if you can’t maintain social distance, put a mask on — both public and privately — and let’s keep ourselves safe,” Fougere said. “There are many areas of our economy, in a public domain if you will, where people are following the rules, and they should not be punished in any way because there’s a hotspot somewhere else in the province, or even within the city itself.”

Seven cases in the Regina zone were announced Friday. The active case count in the Queen City is 114.

Comparatively, Saskatoon’s active case count is up to 257 after 34 new cases were announced Friday.