Provincial NDP leader Ryan Meili said the provincial government is wasting an opportunity to get out in front of the Omicron wave by not enacting stricter regulations over the holiday season.

Meili said the province is still trying to recover from the fourth COVID wave, which overwhelmed ICU units to the point where the province had to transfer some patients out of province. Given those challenges over the summer, Meili said it makes zero sense to not introduce new measures for the holidays.

“The question now … is will we learn the lesson of previous waves and will we lead the way with proactive measures before things get bad, or will we blindly wait again, putting short-term political considerations ahead of peoples lives?” Meili said during a Zoom press conference on Wednesday.

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“This is a time, not for the government to go quiet, to take the holiday season off the way they took the summer off. This is a time for the government to take this seriously (and) for us to not be the only province without any measures.”

Meili said the province should place more restrictions on gatherings in public places. He also wants the province to expand the number of places requiring proof of vaccination to enter.

The NDP leader said he understood residents were tired of talking about COVID, and wanted to relax over the holidays. However, he said the problem isn’t going to go away, and the government needs to take the correct measures to get Omicron under control.

“I think we were all hoping that this Christmas would be much different and we wouldn’t be talking about this very annoying virus that we are all very sick of dealing with, but here we are,” Meili said. “We can wish for things, but we have to deal with the reality of the day, and the reality of the day.”

Meili said the government’s response during the most recent COVID update on Tuesday show a “shocking disconnect” between the provincial government and Saskatchewan residents. If the government continues on its current path, Meili said, the province will be in terrible shape.

“We cannot afford to get this wrong,” he said. “The good news is we have a chance to get ahead. We failed to get ahead of the Delta wave. We ignored the modelling that time. We don’t have to do that again. Every other province is getting hit hard already. We can be in a better place than the rest of the country this time.”

Premier Scott Moe pushed back against Meili’s allegations in a video address posted to his social media accounts on Thursday.

Moe said the government plans to track the situation very closely, and may introduce additional measures around large gathering sizes as early as next week. However, he argued the Omicron variant showed no signs of causing serious illness the way Delta did over the summer.

“Case counts are definitely rising, and they will continue to rise in the days ahead,” Moe said in the video. “However, if serious cases and hospitalizations remain low and manageable, we do not want to go back to shutting down activities, restricting businesses in our communities, and talking away your personal freedoms.”

Instead, Moe said residents should get their booster shot, which would protect them from severe illness. He also suggested residents pick up a box of rapid tests for use around the house.

“If we do these things, we can all enjoy a safe and happy Christmas, as well as a holiday season,” Moe said. “We should be concerned about Omicron, but not panicked. COVID is going to be with us for a while in one form or another, but we can all live our lives safely. We can do the things we enjoy if we are careful and do a few simple things differently.”