With Saskatchewan and the rest of Canada managing through the Omicron wave, one thing is certain and that is Saskatchewan won’t be implementing any lockdown measures.

Premier Scott Moe says the new variant is spreading around the world regardless of the public health measures that are in place. Moe also said Monday that not implementing restrictions helps the province avoid economic and psychological harm and the infringement of personal freedoms that are caused by lockdowns. The premier urges residents to get vaccinated and to receive their booster shot.

“Being vaccinated does not help you from contracting COVID, but it should keep you from becoming seriously ill. That was certainly my personal experience, I really had little, if any symptoms at all and felt quite good throughout my COVID infection.”

On Monday, the premier also said the new federal vaccine mandate requiring truckers crossing the international border to be fully vaxxed, is one that’s unnecessary. Moe adds the trucking industry has been able to operate safely during the pandemic before vaccines were made available.

“The federal government, the policy they put forward , mandating vaccines for truckers to go back and forth across the border is an unnecessary policy and it’s one that going to have unfortunately , potentially some significant impacts on us accessing essential services including food that we need in our communities.”

About 46 per cent of the eligible population in Saskatchewan for booster shots, have received their third jab.

Moe pointed to the fact that Saskatchewan has lower hospitalizations, lower ICU admission and lower rates of virus-related fatalities in January than provinces with stricter public health orders.

(CJWW)