The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2021 season home opener was supposed to be the province’s summer celebration and a reward for beating back COVID-19.
Saskatchewan had lifted all COVID-19 public health restrictions less than a month ahead of the game on Aug. 6. By the end of the event, 32,975 people had poured into Mosaic Stadium. There were no masking restrictions and no proof of vaccination was required.
A week later the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) issued an exposure warning. People with COVID-19 had attended the game and the SHA said they were likely infectious when they did so.
The province would eventually confirm at least nine cases tied to the game, but declined to declare it a COVID-19 outbreak, despite it meeting the definition of an outbreak on the province’s website.
The details of the province’s conversations on how to respond to the emerging COVID-19 cases are contained in 47 pages of emails released to CBC in response to a freedom of information request filed with the Ministry of Health.
The documents show officials with the provincial government debating whether to issue a PSA about the cases, executives with the Saskatchewan Roughriders weighing in on the emerging public health issue and Dr. Saqib Shahab advocating for the use of a proof of vaccination policy long before the province adopted it.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders and the provincial government declined to provide on-camera interviews for this story.
Instead, they offered prepared statements to questions provided by CBC News.
‘NO PSA’
As Saskatchewan began tracing COVID-19 cases back to the Roughriders game, there were internal discussions about issuing a public service announcement.
Officials with the SHA wrote on Aug. 11 that the authority was planning to issue a PSA after a case was detected in the Pil Country end zone section of Mosaic Stadium.
The Ministry of Health went back on forth in the next few days on whether to issue a PSA as more cases were found.
Only two cases had been confirmed when Melissa Kimens, the executive director of the Ministry of Health’s COVID response unit, wrote to her colleagues that she had confirmed “NO PSA” was to be issued on Aug. 12.
It’s not clear from the emails why that decision was made.
The province’s tone would quickly change as more cases were detected. A third confirmed case was reported less than two hours after the “NO PSA” email was issued.
“A new case has been identified; public health is investigating connections and is leaning toward issuing a PSA tomorrow,” Kimens wrote.
Roughriders weigh in
By the next morning, Aug. 13, the number of cases had grown to four. Ken Paul, the CFO of the Roughriders, reached out to health officials.
“Hey guys, to be honest I struggle that 4 cases in a setting of 26,000 people is high risk however I guess if they feel a PSA is required that is the decision,” Paul wrote in the email, which was later forward to other members of the ministry.
Paul openly speculated how a possible PSA could affect attendance at the next game, scheduled for Aug. 14.
Read Paul’s email here:
In a statement responding to questions from CBC News, the Ministry of Health said decisions around when to issue a PSA was based on the recommendations of the local medical health officer, who considered “health-related factors.”
“These factors can include not only the numbers of cases in a setting, but also whether there was transmission within a setting that would meet criteria for a PSA,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
The SHA issued a PSA about the Riders game the afternoon of Aug. 13, but even the content of that announcement would be highly internally debated.
Some officials didn’t want to use the spread of the virus at Pil country as the focus of the notice. Instead, they wanted the cases to be used as an example of the risks of attending a large event.
Ultimately the SHA would settle on a standard statement about the spread.
It declined to declare the now growing number of cases an outbreak.
The SHA’s website defines a confirmed outbreak as two or more people testing positive where all are linked to a “specific non-household setting or event within a specific time period.”
At the time the provincial government said that the removal of public health orders and measures meant that there could be “cases associated with large gatherings that would not otherwise constitute an outbreak.”
The documents provide more details on the decision, with the province.
Saskatchewan deemed that nine cases in a stadium of 33,000 people reflected an “expected rate” of cases given caseloads in the province.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to questions on whether Paul’s comments around a possible effect on attendance was taken into account when the decision to not issue an outbreak warning was made.
In a statement, the Roughriders said their intention with the email was to understand the SHA’s methodology and criteria for issuing a public service announcement.
“We knew this would be the first of many outdoor home games hosted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders and given the number of people in attendance, likely the first of many such PSAs,” the organization wrote.
The provincial government said working with business in the province is part of its strategy .
“This is largely on impacts as the public health measures are impacting businesses and what it is that they’re having issues with in terms of implementation of the public health measures,” said Ken Dueck of the province’s business response team.
Dr. Shahab advocates for vaccination restrictions
One of the other revelations in the documents is that the province’s top doctor was advocating for a proof of vaccination policy privately well ahead of doing so in public.
As the province attempted to respond to the COVID-19 cases at the Roughriders game, chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab wrote in an email that the cases were another reason for only allowing vaccinated person at venues.
He urged that the province and the Riders should put out a statement urging the unvaccinated to get a first dose, “even if [Saskatchewan] wants to continue to hold back from vaccine passports for now.”
The Roughriders announced on Aug. 30 that fans would be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend future home games.
The provincial government did not announce it would implement a proof of vaccination policy until September, as ICU admissions climbed and deaths reached record levels.
At a recent provincial COVID-19 update, Shahab said the results of the proof of vaccination policy speak for themselves.
“I think similar to many other jurisdictions, the fact that the government did put in place a proof of vaccination policy in September did see an increase in vaccination rates, especially in people who were younger.”
Read all 47 pages of emails here:
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