The COVID-19 pandemic in Saskatchewan is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The first presumptive case of COVID-19 in the province was announced on March 12, 2020, and within a week the government declared a state of emergency and instituted broad public health measures to combat the spread of the virus, including the closure of businesses and public facilities. The province's first death from COVID-19 was recorded on March 30, 2020. Through 2022, when the province began to continually decrease its regular public reporting on the pandemic, Saskatchewan ranked as one of the hardest hit provinces in Canada in terms of per capita case counts and deaths from COVID-19. Moreover, the province's health care system has been severely strained by the pandemic, resulting at one point in 2021 in the province transferring more than two dozen intensive-care unit (ICU) patients to Ontario for treatment. After the institution of public health measures in March 2020, the Saskatchewan Party government led by Premier Scott Moe prioritized lifting and avoiding such measures, opting to keep businesses and schools open, particularly once vaccines became widely available. Saskatchewan was the first province to lift all pandemic-related public health measures in July 2021 and again in February 2022. The latter change was made amidst a convoy protest occupying Ottawa partly organized by a truck driver from Saskatchewan. As of July, 2023, 2,000 people in Saskatchewan have died from COVID-19.
Overview Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Officer, Saqib Shahab, announced the first presumptive case of COVID-19 in the province on March 12, 2020, a person in their 60s that had recently returned from Egypt. A provincial state of emergency was declared on March 18, and the province began to institute mandatory closures of non-essential facilities and businesses over the following days. Saskatchewan reported its first deaths from COVID-19 on March 30. In the first half of April, the number of new cases began to drop as the province's quick response appeared to be effective in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. On April 23, Premier Scott Moe reported that Saskatchewan's caseload was 70% below the national average, and hospitalizations and deaths were 90% below average, and he announced a five-stage re-opening plan with the goal of resuming most businesses and activities by July 2020.
The province's first major outbreak began in late April, centered upon the small northwestern community of La Loche. It was traced to an outbreak at the Kearl Oil Sands Project in northern Alberta, with wider community spread attributed to overcrowded living conditions in local First Nations communities. In June and July, a new outbreak emerged in the western and central regions of the province centered around communal Hutterite colonies. The province hit a new peak of 332 active cases during the spike, which subsided by late August. By early October, the province was clearly in the midst of a second wave of cases, particularly in urban communities, with a gospel outreach in Prince Albert being reported as a superspreader event, and increasing community spread in Saskatoon—particularly via nightclubs.
New restrictions on gatherings were introduced in mid-November, including a prohibition on all group sports activities. By early December, the province reached over 4,000 active cases, and there were increases in deaths tied to long-term care facilities. That month, Saskatchewan began rolling out a vaccination program targeting its most vulnerable populations, including healthcare workers with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA). However, deaths from COVID-19 roughly doubled during January 2021, and by that month Saskatchewan led the country in per-capita cases. Despite numbers declining elsewhere in the province, a third wave attributed to the Alpha variant began to emerge in mid-March 2021 in Regina, Moose Jaw, and southeast Saskatchewan. On March 23, the province ordered the closure of indoor arts, entertainment, restaurant, and event facilities in the Regina area to slow the spread of variants of concern. The province also reinstated a prohibition of private gatherings that had recently been lifted to allow household bubbles, while schools in the region voluntarily suspended in-person classes through at least April 26.
By late May, the third wave had begun to subside due to the progress of a second, public phase of vaccination, resulting in the province beginning to lift restrictions on a timeline based on vaccine metrics. On June 1, the province saw its smallest single-day increase in cases (86) since late-February. On July 11, 2021, the province lifted almost all remaining Public Health Orders and declared the state of emergency over, the first province to do so. The province reported that the "overwhelming" majority of new infections in July were among patients not fully vaccinated for COVID-19, a situation exacerbated by Saskatchewan's vaccination numbers trailing in comparison to other provinces.
By August 2021, evidence of a fourth wave driven by patients not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 began to emerge in the province, with increasing rates of cases in the north and in Saskatoon, and the province reported its largest increase in new cases since May on August 12. By August 22, hospitalizations had reached their highest number since June. On September 13, Saskatchewan reported a new peak daily increase of 449 cases, while surpassing 200 hospitalizations for the first time since April.
Premier Moe declined to reinstate Public Health Orders such as mandatory masks, or to require proof of vaccination in order to attend certain locations or events, stating that Public Health Orders were redundant to vaccine availability, and that he wanted to support businesses in voluntarily requesting proof of vaccination. This was despite pleas from health care professionals and municipal leaders for greater public health measures. Moreover, this was despite recommendations from Chief Medical Officer Shahab to institute new measures. On September 16, stating that the fourth wave was being "driven almost entirely" by patients not fully vaccinated for COVID-19, Premier Moe backtracked on his earlier statements and announced an "interim" mask mandate for indoor public spaces, and that proof of vaccination would become mandatory for certain non-essential venues.
Saskatchewan experienced record hospitalizations and ICU usage during the fourth wave, leading the country in ICU patients per-capita and having to resort to sending patients out-of-province to relieve ICU capacity. By December 2021, Saskatchewan's daily case numbers and hospitalizations had seen a decline to levels not seen since the summer. However, with the arrival of Omicron variant in the province, cases began to once again escalate by the end of the month. Saskatchewan was the only province to not introduce any new restrictions on gatherings in response to the Omicron variant. In January 2022, daily cases began to regularly exceed over 1,000 per-day, peaking at 1,648 on January 23. By January 24, 2022, hospitalizations reached their highest numbers since October 2021.
Despite the latest wave, the provincial government continued to resist implementing any new Public Health Orders beyond those already in place, arguing that they were not necessary. In late January, amid a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border land travel, promoted primarily by individuals associated with far-right groups, updated January 30. Moe spoke in support of the convoy and pledged to drop proof of vaccination requirements. The province concurrently began to implement a policy of living with COVID-19 as an endemic respiratory illness, including recommending rapid antigen tests—which have not been counted in the provincial statistics by the SHA—over PCR tests. On February 7, 2022, the province ceased all SHA-provided PCR testing outside of "priority populations", and the daily publication of COVID-19-related statistics, switching to weekly summaries. This included ending updates to the public COVID-19 dashboard, which had provided publicly-available information to residents since the earliest days of the pandemic. The next day, Moe announced that proof of vaccination would end on February 14, and that the mask mandate and all remaining measures would be lifted by the end of February. By April 2023, the 403 reported hospitalizations in the province, including 25 ICU patients, neared their peak from February, and exceeded by approximately four times the per capita hospitalizations reported in other provinces including British Columbia and Ontario.
On June 23, 2022, the SHA discontinued weekly reports, announcing that it would release epidemiological reports on a monthly basis from then on.
Statistics
Provincial government response Health orders and restrictions Public Health Orders (PHOs) are issued by the government of Saskatchewan pursuant to the declared state of emergency, and are enforceable under provincial law. As of May 3, 2021, violations were punishable by fine of up to $7,500 for individuals, and $100,000 for businesses, plus 40% victim surcharge.
First wave
Citing concerns over the potential of an impending outbreak in the province, Premier Scott Moe announced on March 12, 2020, that he would not pursue a snap provincial election, which he had been musing about publicly. Moe also rejected a proposal from Opposition leader Ryan Meili to create an all-party committee, including members of the governing Saskatchewan Party, the Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), and health and economics experts, to help guide the province's response to the emerging pandemic.
On March 13, following the second presumptive case in the province, the Saskatchewan government announced restrictions on gatherings of more than 250 people in contiguous indoor space, as well as gatherings of more than 50 people if they include participants who had recently travelled internationally. An exception for faith-based organizations was removed March 16. The government sharply reduced inter-provincial and international travel by any provincial employees on government business. It also mandated that provincial employees who have travelled outside the country, whether on government business or personal travel, self-isolate for 14 days upon their return.
On March 17, the government announced that it was delaying the introduction of the provincial budget, because the government revenue forecasts underlying it were no longer reliable in light of unfolding events. The Government would announce the planned spending, including for the health care sector, which would see an increase in funding. The same day, the Legislature passed amendments to provincial employment law, to provide unpaid job security to employees during the pandemic. The amendments passed with the support of both parties. The next day, the Legislature adjourned its spring sitting, with the consent of the Opposition. However, Premier Moe and his government would come under scrutiny over the summer for refusing to reconvene the Legislature ahead of the fall election, and were accused of avoiding accountability.