The announcement regarding the government鈥檚 social services pandemic response plan was not received well. The $171,00 they put forward to benefit shelters in Saskatchewan was a small contribution in the eyes of those working in the industry and from the opposition.
Leader of the Official Opposition Ryan Meili said in a press conference he was disappointed with the additional funding announced by the province. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bare sliver of the operating budgets of these facilities. Those dollars will be eaten up in no time,鈥� said Meili.
For the most part, the Sask Party is trying to get ahead of this crisis, although to many Saskatchewan citizens, the approach the provincial government has taken is a turtle鈥檚 pace.
The positives with the provincial response plan are the announcements of overflow from shelters for the province鈥檚 most vulnerable 鈥� they will be provided with other means of shelter such as hotels and whatever else is possible as long as people practise social distancing and self-isolation.
Social Services Minister Paul Merriman also said there are approximately 1,700 vacant Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units in 29 larger communities around Saskatchewan that will be leveraged to ensure people impacted by COVID-19 will have a place to go.
The $171,000 for shelters across the province is where there seems to be a disconnect. In a story published by CTV, Lighthouse Saskatoon executive director Don Windels said he anticipated they will receive about $35,000 which works out to nearly 0.5 per cent of their annual budget.
聽If those numbers are close, that leaves $136,000 for the remaining nine facilities and organizations due to receive the additional funding. If the pie鈥檚 split evenly with the remaining facilities, that amounts to $15,111 鈥� a drop in the bucket for many of these organizations continuing their work in this crisis.
In times like these, it would be easy to say anything helps, until considering how much operating costs must skyrocket when dealing with a virus that doesn鈥檛 just go away.
Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor at MIT, has researched the dynamics of exhalations like coughs and sneezes. Bourouiba studied for years at The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory. In a story published by USA Today, she said exhalations cause gaseous clouds that can travel up to 27 feet.聽
Imagine containing a virus that can travel up to 27 feet in close quarters in facilities with the province鈥檚 most vulnerable.
With community transmission numbers rising in the province, it may be a stretch to say anyone coughing or sneezing in public could cause anyone to get sick, but in a crisis, just the mere risk needs to be taken seriously.
Fifteen to $35,000 could not possibly make a dent, when staffing will have to be upped, supplies order and hours of additional care and maintenance will inevitably have to take place to maintain the surging numbers of those seeking refuge.
Premier Scott Moe believes the province has acted quickly and accordingly in line with other provinces to get ahead of it. Although, there鈥檚 countless reports of supply issues for healthcare professionals and a worry of a ventilator shortage in the case of a surge.
A surge that doesn鈥檛 seem as crazy as it once did, when cases were only jumping by single digits daily. From March 27 to March 30, confirmed cases jumped by 72. We are now at over 200 cases in three weeks with 44 of them from community contacts, 10 with no known exposures and 56 cases under investigation by public health.
We can only hope if the virus does hits massive surges, the province and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will have really done their due diligence and are ready for cases filling the province鈥檚 hospital beds at increased rates.
To point out another positive point in a week of disappointments, the province is finally sharing more in-depth information with the public during the crisis.
As Abraham Lincoln one said, 鈥淚 am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended on to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.鈥�
Moe announced the Saskatchewan Health Authority will publish a report for the public, which will include models and projections of the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan.
We can only hope the virus doesn鈥檛 skyrocket enough to where the precautions taken by the province, along with short-comings in additional funding, will not come back to bite them going forward.
