The province has amended regulations to make it easier for businesses and individuals to conduct COVID-19 rapid antigen tests.

On Thursday, the province announced changes were made to regulations so that a formal agreement is no longer required between those who use rapid antigen tests and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

“Our government is committed to improving access to health care services for people across the province and providing the necessary tools to address the pandemic,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a press release. “This step means that businesses and individuals can easily procure and use these tests, helping asymptomatic people who have COVID-19 receive testing and treatment more quickly. Ultimately, the best way to protect yourself and those around you is to get vaccinated.”  

Rapid antigen tests are used to screen asymptomatic people for COVID-19. Positive results have to be confirmed through a test conducted by the SHA. A positive result, though, still means you should self-isolate and call 811 until a confirmatory test is conducted.

Large national businesses that operate in the province and wish to use the tests can request them through the federal government’s online business portal at health.canada.ca/en/rapid-tests. Small and medium-sized businesses can apply for rapid tests through the SHA by completing the intake form at Saskatchewan.ca/covid19. Tests will be prioritized for health care professionals and priority settings.

Provincial auditor Judy Ferguson is looking back at her time in the position with fondness as she prepares to retire this year.

Volume 1 of the 2021 audits, released Tuesday, will be Ferguson’s last. It was announced in February that Ferguson would be stepping down this summer. She’s led the auditor’s office since 2013.

She called the job “very rewarding

“We have a critical role to play. Our job is not to hold the government to account. We can’t do that. We’re a conveyor of information hopefully, that people find valuable, about higher risk areas of the government and different operations of the government,” she said.

“(We) shed a light on them, and through that, move practice forward or let people know how other governments are doing in particular areas.”

Since taking on the role in 2013, Ferguson said, the office has seen lots of change, including influencing how the government reports its financials. She also cited “lots of great work” in the health sector.

‘We’ve shone lots of lights in that area. We are seeing movement, though there’s much more to do.”

The auditors, Ferguson said, don’t just highlight what government bodies are doing poorly. They also highlight practices government agencies and Crown corporations have that are effective and should be emulated elsewhere.

“We realize that, as an audit office, we can impact the public’s confidence in the government. I think it would be inappropriate for us to only tell the public what goes wrong,” she said.

“I think it’s important to know that there are some things that the government gets right, and also that they’re willing to make changes and improvements.”

Those changes and improvements can have impacts across different agencies, she said. One of the most rewarding pieces of her job, Ferguson, is that when her office does audits, agencies that are getting examined will reach out to others who have been audited before, or who have demonstrated best practices, to learn from them.

Ferguson, when asked, also gave the Herald a quick assessment of what she thought her office does well, and where it could stand to improve.

“We have to move along and change as we go,” she said.

Ferguson specifically mentioned improving public engagement as an area the auditor’s office should focus on.

“We recognize that the format of our report doesn’t lend itself to the average person’s reading,” she said.

“We need to be a bit more visual, and perhaps even use more audio clips and (multimedia elements) that make a better use of the social media aspect.”

The latest volume of the auditor’s report is over 300 pages long, and other than charts contains few graphics.

“We’ve only just really started taking baby steps in that (public engagement) regard,” Ferguson.

“We’ve got lots of room to grow. We’re like everybody else — we’ll continue to look at what we do seriously, critique it and try to move it forward.”

Audits of the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority’s (SLGA) policies for two types of inspection/enforcement of private business uncovered inconsistencies in enforcement, the provincial auditor says.

The auditor looked at how SLGA regulates recreational cannabis and table alcohol sales in two separate audits, and found similar concerns across both. The alcohol audit was a follow-up from previous investigations, while the cannabis audit was new for the agency.

The auditor’s office found that the SLGA was still in its start-up phase of regulating recreational cannabis, and was focusing on education over enforcement.

“Moving past the start-up phase is essential for effective regulation,” the auditor’s report said.

The auditor’s report said SLGA did not always complete monthly inspections, and that it didn’t set out expected timeframes to review and approve sanctions on cannabis retailers.

“Effective regulatory processes help prevent the sale of legal recreational cannabis to youth, keep profits from cannabis sales in the regulated market and protect public health and safety by allowing adults to access legal cannabis,” the auditor’s report reads.

The report says periodic inspections are the main way to determine whether retailers and wholesalers are following the rules. The expectation is for inspectors to complete inspections of retailers and wholesalers at least once a month.

The auditor found that inspections are effective, but that they aren’t monitored for timeliness, and that the SLGA, as of the audit, hadn’t finalized its guidance for addressing non-compliance and when to begin taking enforcement actions.

Draft guidelines designed to lay out how to deal with non-compliance, the auditor said, were appropriate and clear, but didn’t set out expected timeframes for reviewing and approving sanctions for violating cannabis retail and wholesale regulations.

 SLGA told the auditor’s office that they plan to finalize and approve their guidelines by August 31 of this year, but had not set a date for when it will transition from education to enforcement for non-compliance.

The auditor also found that 14 instances where inspectors had found non-compliance and drafted a sanctions letter, but the authority hadn’t finalized what action to take. One of the draft sanctions related to an incident where the retailer hadn’t asked customers for identification at the time of sale to verify age.

“By not reviewing and approving sanctions timely, the authority increases the risk of cannabis permittees continued to not comply with the authority’s operating requirements,” the auditor said.

“This may increase risk to public safety.”

The auditor further found that the SLGA hasn’t yet implemented technology to enable it to electronically tracked non-compliance and actions taken to address the lack of compliance, though that technology is planned for implementation this fiscal year.

“What we’re finding is they’re going out and they’re doing their inspections. The investigators would write up the results and suggest a sanction,” auditor Judy Ferguson said during a press conference Tuesday.

“What we found is that those draft sanction letters weren’t finalized, so the communication didn’t go out to those permittees in terms of what they needed to do differently. We were finding delays of up to two to three months in getting those letters out the door. What we’re saying is you need to move to that enforcement action to make sure you are properly regulated.”

The follow-up audit into inspections made of on-table liquor sales found that of the three outstanding recommendations from the first follow-up audit, one had been implemented and two partially implemented.

The auditor found that the SLGA completes reports on non-compliance, but does not perform a written analysis of key trends of non-compliance with liquor sale requirements.

“Without analysis on key trends, the Authority may not know whether its liquor regulatory processes work, if it applies its regulatory processes fairly and consistently, or if commercial permittee compliance is getting better or worse,” the auditor’s report said.  “This type of analysis can also assist the Authority in planning their resources for the next fiscal year.”

The report also found that the SLGA is not consistently monitoring the completion of inspections.

“There’s definitely overlap” in the cannabis and liquor inspection findings, Ferguson said in an interview with the Herald.

“The common findings are really on that inspections piece. In both of them, they had an inspection schedule and they weren’t keeping to that inspection schedule. We must admit, we were a little surprised on the cannabis one.”

That’s because, Ferguson, their hope as an audit office is that agencies learn from audits and implement those lessons into other areas of their operations.

“In this case, it hasn’t quite occurred. We’ll continue looking at it, and help move them along.”

A program aimed at getting age-appropriate reading materials into young children across the city has hit an important milestone.

Last week the Prince Albert chapter of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library announced it had enrolled the first 200 children into the program — or about ten per cent of their targeted population.

 The program has only operated in Prince Albert for a few months. It gifts a free book to registered children each month through the mail, free of charge. Children receive books from birth to age five.

“It’s an important milestone that we’ve hit. Word is getting out in the community,” said Estelle Hjertaas, one of the program’s volunteer organizers. 

“We’ve had a number of people send us pictures of their kids with the book saying that they really enjoy them.”

The goal is for the program to reach every child in Prince Albert, which would mean free books for 2,500 kids.

Most programs, she added, only reach about 60 per cent of their targeted audience. Prince Albert’s program is still growing, but more people sign up each day.

So far, the program has enjoyed support from local groups such as the Optimist Club and the Kinsmen. They have enough donations to cover their current enrolment numbers, but they’re always looking for more support as more families sign onto the program.

“It’s not a very expensive program, per child. But if you have a lot of children, those costs go up quite significantly.”

Hjertaas added that, at this time, the program is only open to postal codes within the City of Prince Albert. Some have inquired from surrounding communities like Albertville, but the program doesn’t reach that far yet.

“We’d love to get to the point where we could expand,” Hjertaas said. “If people want to come on board and help us with fundraising, maybe that’s something we could look at faster.”

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/PAImaginationLibrary

The Saskatchewan RCMP is advising the public of an increased police presence near Fortsburg Road and Highway 355, northwest of Prince Albert.

According to a media release, a police operation “involving armed suspects” is ongoing. Police have contained the area. Police are asking the public to avoid the general area.

The intersection is between Spruce Home and Sturgeon Lake.

Police said more information will be released when it becomes available

Data released by the provincial government Tuesday shows that COVID-19 vaccines are working, but Saskatchewan isn’t considering incentives to encourage people to receive their shots.

Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab walked reporters through data suggesting that the number of so-called breakthrough cases in the province remains low, and illustrating that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases detected in May were in residents who hadn’t received a vaccine dose yet, or who had but hadn’t yet developed immunity as three weeks hadn’t passed since their inoculation.

According to the data presented by the province Tuesday, 91.9 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the month of May were in people who weren’t vaccinated. Of the handful of cases that had received at least one dose of the vaccine, 38 per cent had other underlying medical conditions.

Only 36 vaccinated residents ended up in the hospital, Shahab said, of which 28 had other medical conditions. Of the hospitalized residents, 86 per cent were over the age of 60. Only six people who were vaccinated ended up in the ICU, versus 40 unvaccinated residents. All of those six vaccinated residents who ended up in the ICU with COVID-19 had other medical conditions or were older than the age of 70. Shahab said he expects numbers to further decrease as residents begin to receive their second doses of the vaccine.

“it is now extremely clear that vaccines are reducing the spread of COVID-19 in our province reducing hospitalizations and saving lives,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said.

He said the daily average of new cases is now the lowest it’s been in seven months. The reduction in new cases has also meant that all three Saskatoon hospitals have been allowed to move to level 1 family presence restrictions, down from level 2. Level 1 means that each patient can designate two support people, of which one can be present at a time.

“This is one more step in ettin back to normal that we’re able to take because so many Saskatchewan people are getting their shot,” Merriman said.

“Even a single dose provides good protection,” Dr. Shahab said.

“Together with public health measure, vaccinations are now pushing our numbers to lower and lower levels that are allowing us, in a systematic way, to reopen.”

He speculated that complacency could be a factor in slowing vaccination rates, suggesting that residents who live in areas where COVID-19 hasn’t been as prominent may be slower to get their vaccine. He said data indicates that 80 to 90 per cent of people are intending to get vaccinated, even as less than 70 per cent of the population over the age of 12 has a first dose of the vaccine in their arm, despite being eligible.

Vaccine uptake has been the highest in urban settings, such as Saskatoon and Regina. It’s been lagging in rural areas a little bit. Officials are working with newcomer communities, universities and schools to improve vaccination rates.

Merriman suggested nicer weather and the business of younger residents are reasons the rates of new vaccinations have tapered off.

“We’re getting down to the lower numbers. We did anticipate that it would slow down when we got to the younger age groups, because they might not see the impact on themselves,” he said.

“What they’re failing to see are the impacts on their families and communities. They’re failing to see that this is important not just for themselves but also for the greater community.”

Provincial data shows that since May 31, the number of second doses administered each day has surpassed first doses. While the percentage of the population eligible for both doses does continue to increase, there are more people unvaccinated with one dose than there are eligible for a second dose of vaccine.

Some, like the provincial NDP, have called for a lottery-like system to reward people for receiving their first vaccine and to incentivize people who haven’t received one yet to go out and get it. The Saskatchewan Party said it isn’t considering incentives at this point, and boasted that its vaccination uptake is among the best in Canada.

“We haven’t seen any (incentive) that has jumped up the rates significantly,” Merriman said.

“We are going to achieve those targets The vaccine uptake has slowed a little bit as of late, but there are many factors in that.”

Despite the province’s claims, data from the federal government shows that Saskatchewan is no longer leading the nation in its vaccine uptake.

While the province only includes eligible populations among its vaccine reporting, the federal government reports vaccine percentage as a proportion of total population. Saskatchewan’s mark of 54.49 per cent of its population receiving at least one dose of vaccine as of May 29 was seventh among provinces, trailing BC, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Saskatchewan was the first to begin second doses and to announce its reopening plans, but it has struggled in recent weeks to continue administering first doses of vaccines.

And despite Merriman’s claims that younger people may just not understand the immediacy of the COVID-19 risk, many have said access to vaccine doses has become more difficult as of late. The province is no longer using its online booking system for first doses, directing residents to drive-thrus and pharmacies.

Pharmacies book individually, and people with kids or busy jobs may not be able to sit in line at a drive-thru, despite provincial legislation requiring employers to give their employees three hours of paid leave to access a vaccination.

Many have been calling around to various pharmacies only to be turned away due to already-booked appointments. The frustration means people looking for a dose of vaccine are being forced to wait longer to find an appointment that suits their schedule.

As of Tuesday, every age group 50 and up had at least 70 er cent uptake of first doses, but among residents aged 12-29, less than half the population had received their first dose of vaccine. In all, 65 per cent of residents over the age of 12 have received their first dose. When that mark reaches 70 per cent, the province will enter the third stage of its reopening plan and remove most remaining health restrictions, such as masking requirements and gathering size limits.