City hall’s strategic leadership team continues to meet every two weeks to discuss the pandemic and is keeping an eye on the increase in COVID-19 variants in Regina.
“We are watching that very closely,” city manager Jim Puffalt said during a recent media scrum. “Before the variants became a huge issue in Regina … we were starting to talk about opening up and increasing hours. So now we’re just a little nervous about that, so we want to wait and see how vaccinations go before we do a whole lot different than what we’re doing now.
“So I think we’re in a little bit of a pause because of the variants.”
The provincial government imposed restrictions on Regina and area on March 23 after dozens of variants began popping up in the Queen City. The province reported 143 new variant cases that day, with 123 of those in Regina.
All private indoor gatherings in the Regina area are once again limited to immediate households only. Residents cannot expand their household bubble. Anyone who lives alone can continue meeting with one consistent household of fewer than five people.
Travel is not recommended in or out of the Regina area “unless absolutely necessary,” while the province is urging anyone who can to work from home.
Starting March 28, all restaurants and licensed establishments must close their in-person dining rooms. Take-out and delivery will still be allowed.
Event venues and other non-essential indoor locations with a limit of 30 people are now being forced to close temporarily. This includes banquet and community halls, conference facilities, arts venues, museums, libraries, live theatre, cinemas, arcades, bowling and science centres.
Places of worship will remain with their current restrictions of a maximum of 30 people. Restrictions on retail will also stay the same, with most locations at 50-per-cent capacity. Large retail locations with more than 20,000 square feet of floor space are at 25 per cent.
These new restrictions are in place until at least April 5.
In Moose Jaw, the strategic leadership team plans to keep the current restrictions it has already imposed in municipal buildings, Puffalt said. This includes forcing everyone to wear masks inside city hall and during council meetings.
“We had one case (of COVID-19) in the last year of one of our employees, so we’ve been really successful in what we’re doing,” he continued.
The variants are happening because people are not following the Saskatchewan Health Authority guidelines, he added. So, everyone now needs to be vigilant and careful during the next few weeks as vaccines roll out and herd immunity starts to develop.
