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Moe defends decision to remove public health restrictions in July
999.
Daisy a Day
Meili has few complaints By Larissa Kurz Glacier Media
Following the weekend announcement, Premier Scott Moe defended the decision to move forward with lifting public health orders, despite the province not yet reaching its reopening plan’s set thresholds. Saskatchewan was meant to hit the target of 70 per cent of residents aged 12 and up having received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, before proceeding with Phase Three of the current plan. However, the province confirmed on Sunday that it would be removing all remaining public health orders on July 11, even though only 68.2 per cent of individuals over the age of 12 had received their first dose. Moe said the decision to bump up the announcement was made in consultation with public health officials, with confidence that the province will reach the 70 per cent threshold required very soon. “We’ll achieve that at some point this week,”
said Moe Monday. “We’ve put out about a million doses that have been provided to Saskatchewan residents today, [and] we’re most certainly going to go by that [threshold] before we ever get to July 11.” Among the remaining public orders set to disappear are the mandatory masking and capacity limitations currently in place, as well as limits on retail and restaurant. “People have been looking for and striving to achieve this by going out and getting vaccinated in large numbers,” said Moe. Public health is still pushing for people to seek vaccination, said Moe, as the second dose campaign continues and officials call on residents who haven’t gone for their first dose to do so soon. An increase in booked appointment availability, drive-through clinic times and mobile units travelling across the province are just part of the province’s end-game push in its vaccination program. “Seventy per cent is not the finish line, it’s the
benchmark so that we can move forward,” said Moe. “We need to go further, and we will go further [and] seventy per cent is not when we close down the vaccination clinics and say, ‘you missed your chance.’” He also said officials have no concerns that linking a complete lift of public health orders to first dose thresholds will slow the rate of second dose delivery. “With international travel, the second dose and being fully vaccinated do come into play, most certainly, even as you start to see travel over the U.S.-Canada border,” said Moe. “So I think we’re going to see a very high uptake in second doses.” Opposition leader Ryan Meili had few complaints on the decision, as case numbers and hospitalization rates continue to trend downwards in the province. Meili also encouraged residents to continue seeking immunization despite the lift in restrictions, to help curb the potential spread of variants over the summer.
A photograph titlted Daisy a Day, by Bud Weikle, was the winner in the People Category of the Battlefords’ Camera Club spring competition, held virtually for the first time. See inside for the rest of the winning photos.
Plan to reopen old bridges to walkers approved for summer By John Cairns Staff Reporter
Pedestrians hoping to be able to walk on the old bridges to Finlayson Island this summer have received some welcome news from Battleford town council. At their council meeting Monday, Battleford council approved the temporary reopening of the truss bridges for the 2021 summer season, as well as providing money for the repair work needed. The town’s chief ad-
ministrative officer, Ash Alam, told council they can reopen the bridges to pedestrians for three months, from July to September, provided some minor adjustments are done. The public works department indicated they needed to do some asphalt work on both ends of the bridge and put up a fence. Council has approved the $7,704.61 cost for the temporary work on the bridges. This includes $1,200 in temporary repairs, $1,500 to install a
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fence and railing and upwards of $5,000 in engineering and costs. More extensive rehabilitation work is still to come. The bridges, which span the North Saskatchewan River at Finlayson Island, are currently rated in poor condition and are due for major rehabilitation work to bring them back up to good condition. The federal government recently announced it was funding $1,387,320 Continued on Page 3
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