Despite recent moves to bring Saskatchewan closer to re-opening within the next few weeks, Premier Scott Moe insisted that some restrictions were very likely to remain with us for a long time.

Restrictions on people returning from international travel and restrictions on visitors at long term care facilities were some of the first to be enacted when the pandemic first began its march across the province. This was because not only were most of those early cases linked specifically to travel, with (as of yet) no evidence of community transmission. But also because health authorities had seen quite clearly the devastation that the virus could bring to the most vulnerable in society; the elderly and the immunocompromised, for example.

Scott Livingstone is the CEO of the SHA.

"We continue to enhance protections around some of our most vulnerable populations. Specifically, we've been watching and learning across the globe about how deadly the impact is of COVID-19 on patients in long term care homes."

The provincial government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority moved quickly once the provincial state of emergency was declared on March 18, 2020. All non-urgent/elective surgeries were cancelled on the very same day in order to devote more staff and Personal Protective Equipment to areas of more need, as well as reducing the risk of exposure to care providers and patients.

On April 3, 2020, they enacted daily fitness for work screening for healthcare workers and anyone entering long-term care facilities. As well as limiting all visitors to immediate family and only in the case of compassionate/end-of-life reasons.

Then, on April 14, 2020, as the full scope of the damage that could be caused in long term care facilities became clear through the unfortunate evidence coming from other provinces like Ontario and Quebec, the SHA strengthened their measures again, requiring not only screening before entering all SHA facilities, but masks to be worn at all times.

And finally, the most recent measure, announced mere days before Premier Scott Moe announced the re-opening of the province, the Saskatchewan Health Authority clamped down on employee movement, mandating that each staff member works in only a single facility.

The strategy, known as 'cohorting', is a means of limiting contact transmission by preventing staff members, many of whom work part-time at multiple facilities, from doing so.

It's not the first time cohorting has been done in response to an outbreak, but it is the first time that it has been rolled out provincially; in the past limited to only smaller areas in a given health region.

Livingstone, of course, admits the challenge inherent in that:

"With such a large a varied workforce spread over such sizeable geography and services normally dependant on coordinating staff between multiple sites, achieving this will be no small feat."

He added that with the assistance of their healthcare worker's union partners, they were working to get that strategy running as soon as possible, tossing out an April 28, 2020 date for it to most likely take effect.

With certain other restrictions set to begin easing mere days after that; provincial parks and non-essential medical services on May 4, 2020; Golf and non-essential retail two weeks later; It can be tempting to think that the measures in place at Long Term Care facilities will be similarly short-lived.

But both Moe and Livingstone have been quick to reject that idea, with no plans to do so until the very final phase of the five-phase re-opening plan.

That final phase has no date set at this moment.