Provincial health officials are still at work updating a 10-year-old strategy for combating a pandemic, as the NDP accuses the health ministry of having no plan if a COVID-19 outbreak strikes Saskatchewan.
Opposition health critic Vicki Mowat argued that the ministry is simply “dusting off” an outdated document designed for the H1N1 virus.
“This is a new virus,” she said during question period on Tuesday. “It needs a new plan.”
Health Minister Jim Reiter rejected Mowat’s accusations, saying health officials are preparing for “every scenario.” But he acknowledged that there is currently no specific document setting out the government’s response to a potential outbreak of COVID-19.
“It’s multifaceted,” said Reiter. “There’s not one single document.”
He said an outbreak could require a response from several ministries, as schools, airports and other services become affected.
There are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan. But with infections spreading in other provinces — including 14 cases next door in Alberta — it may only be a matter of time before an outbreak arrives.
“We hope it won’t happen but we certainly need to plan for that,” chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said in late February.
When asked about the SHA’s pandemic planning, Shahab has pointed to the document Mowat mentioned. It was last renewed in 2009-10, at the time of the H1N1 crisis. Shahab explained the SHA had already begun updating it when COVID-19 outbreaks became known.
On Tuesday, Reiter confirmed the work is still in progress.
“They’ll continue to work on it,” he said.
A copy of the 2009-10 plan the ministry provided to the Leader-Post still assigns tasks to regional health authorities, which no longer exist. It refers to committees and measures that relate specifically to the H1N1 outbreaks at that time. Even more general sections are focussed on influenza.
But Reiter defended the document as a good starting point.
“Because it’s a different medical issue, should you throw the old plan completely out and start from scratch? That doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
He accused the NDP of politicizing a sensitive medical issue.
“There is a plan in place,” said Reiter. “They’re tweaking it to fit the coronavirus, and to be fear-mongering is absolutely despicable.”
The document contains detailed information about how many people could be affected by influenza, how many would be admitted to hospital and how many ICU beds would be required to treat them. It assesses the system’s “surge capacity” and how to continue operations as health workers become sick.
“The health care system is likely to be stretched during a pandemic due to a combination of factors, including the high number of people infected or severity of the disease,” says the document.
That’s exactly what Mowat is worried about.
“Health care in our province has already reached a breaking point,” she said.
The influenza plan further explains how health facilities will keep visitors and employees from becoming infected. It also examines the possibility of school closures, though it advises against them. It warns that morgues and funeral homes could be overwhelmed by a severe outbreak.
The plan also addresses the province’s “strategic reserve” of supplies.
The ministry has so far provided limited information on its current supplies to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak. It was not able to provide any details to the Leader-Post about how many ventilators the Saskatchewan Health Authority has available, or how many might be needed.
Patients in serious respiratory distress need ventilators to survive severe COVID-19 infections, though such cases are only a small minority.
Preliminary data suggests about 80 per cent of infections are mild and only require isolation at home.
In addition to its pandemic plan, the province also has emergency planning legislation that would allow it to limit transport and ensure the distribution of necessary supplies.
Photo by Troy Fleece of the Regina Leader-Post.
