Saskatchewan will soon see its parks, outdoor pools and sports fields become increasingly busy as Phase 4 of the province's reopening plan is set to start Monday.
Many of the services opening on Monday will be encouraging people — especially children — to get outside in a more organized fashion, and experts say it's a logical time for these types of activities to start.
However, some say it's important for parents to listen to their children when it comes to whether or not they want to attend.
"On an individual case, it will depend on the comfort level of the parents," said Charles Pascal, professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and Ontario's former deputy minister of education. "If they're comfortable, the kids will feel more comfortable."
But if the children are staunchly against attending because they're afraid or worried, parents need to take note.
"Parenting 101 suggests that it's really critical parents follow the mental health and well-being comfort zone of kids. It doesn't mean that you don't encourage kids to take a chance, to take a little bit of a risk, to go outside of your comfort zone, but pushing them far outside of their comfort zone, that's not great parenting."
Pascal said it will be important for both parents and supervisors to be paying close attention to their children's behaviour as the kids return to these activities, as continued aggression or isolation can both be signs that a children's mental health has suffered.
He feels those providing the supervision should be trained to recognize these signs.
"I know that the plan to open is only days away," he said. "My hope is that whoever is providing oversight to the opening of these facilities have thought about those who will be on site and what to look for in case something difficult arises because of what's happened during the pandemic."
Guidelines key to reopening: professor
Dr. Cory Neudorf, a professor in the Department of Community Health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Medicine, said how the facilities open — as opposed to what's opening — is what's critical.
"The guidelines are the important part," he said."It's not so much about what's opening when, as have appropriate guidelines been put together to make that activity as safe as possible."
The province of Saskatchewan has issued guidelines for activities set to reopen on June 22 and Neudorf said while they are in place, they are still just guidelines, so Saskatchewan will have to look to other jurisdictions to see what's working and what's not.
"They're aspirational, and as much as possible in the context, we want them to be followed because it's going to improve safety for everyone," he said.
"Does it mean they'll be followed in every circumstance with every child, well of course not, but I think we can take our cues from places in other countries and other provinces that have reopened schools already."
"They've tried similar types of guidelines, and so far, we're seeing not a lot of spread within those circumstances," he said.
He also noted this will be an opportunity to test how well these guidelines work in a controlled environment before implementing them on a wider scale with less restrictions.
The guidelines provided by the government range widely in scope, offering information on how to properly play a game of no-contact shadow tag at a day camp to restrictions on fundraising at sports events like 50/50 draws, unless they can be done in a contactless way.
Survey says Sask. is pleased by pandemic response
Research conducted at the U of S has found that the wide majority of Saskatchewan residents are pleased with the response to the pandemic from the public and the province.
Based on a survey of more than 800 people conducted in May by the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, roughly 86 per cent of people feel people around them are following public health recommendations and 76 per cent said they felt their provincial government is taking the steps needed to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, an epidemiologist and professor at the U of S Department of Community Health and Epidemiology who assembled the data, said the time to start these activities is appropriate, but only if parents stress to their children that the virus is still out there.
"We have to continue to emphasise to take care in terms of social distancing and also good good hand hygiene, but by this time, one would hope that they've got this down to a habit."
He also noted that due to the fact many of the activities will be taking place outdoors in open spaces, the likelihood of transmission is "very low." He said it'll be up individual families to determine what risks may be present in having their kids get involved in these types of activities, but said for the most part, children do understand the gravity of the situation.
However, he said it's not only parents who need to be involved in the process, saying camp organizers, facility managers and coaches all have a role to play.
"Supervision is going to be very critical at this time," he said. "And children will actually listen. They will listen, they will obey, because the alternative might be that they have to go back home and stay home for another few weeks, if not months."
So while the reopening of Phase 4 services will come as a bit of a reprieve for both children and parents, he said there are several links in the chain that must stay solid in order to keep residents safe.
"We need to monitor. We need to have a very close watch on whether or not there's any potential for flare-ups, for outbreaks," he said. "When that happens, we need to be able to adjust what we are doing, and it has to be very detailed, very local, as opposed to widespread. We cannot have another lockdown."
A date for the second part of Phase 4, which will see indoor pools, casinos, museums, libraries and more, has yet to be determined as the government will be monitoring the rollout of the first part of Phase 4 over the next several days.
