On November 19, the government of Saskatchewan brought down a long list of new public health orders that included new rules for schools and increased mandatory masking. On November 27, they did it again, this time shutting down sports leagues and making masks mandatory in an even wider variety of public places. 

With restrictions now having been in effect for 18 days since November 19 and closing in on two weeks since November 27, two questions still remain, though we are getting closer to an answer on both fronts. Are these restrictions actually having an effect, and if so, did we implement them soon enough?

"In a week or two, I'll be able to present the impact of the orders on November 27," said Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab. "But they show if we comply with the orders, we can bring our case numbers down in December to below 400, which is important. But we still need to hold the course. Otherwise, cases will rise in January."

As December moves on, a question on the mind of many Saskatchewan residents is: what will happen at Christmas? It's still a bit too early to say whether or not the current public health orders have made enough of an impact to allow for a more normal holiday season.

"We can't really announce any relaxation for the holidays at this point," Dr. Shahab said. "Even if there were some relaxations, it will have to be very cautious relaxations because whenever you have a bit of a relaxation, you always see the impact of that two or three weeks down the road."

According to Dr. Shahab's model, a lack of measures in November would have led to cases being far higher, even though cases are still trending worryingly upward. So, the next question becomes: did these measures come down late enough to prevent cases from getting out of control?

"Are we happy with 250 cases a day? I would say no," Dr. Shahab said. "We would like to see cases below 120. Are we happy that we're not seeing 500 cases a day? Absolutely... There is some impact of the November 19 measures. We're hoping the November 27 measures will have an enhanced impact."

Dr. Shahab added they were pleased to see both the number and range of close contacts coming down among newly discovered cases. Saskatchewan saw 274 new cases of COVID-19 Monday.