Code Red: City proposes alert system to communicate Saskatoon COVID-19 risk, help prevent spread

SASKATOON — Saskatoon’s city administration is proposing the city adopt a COVID-19 risk mitigation strategy to help inform city operations and members of the public of the current state of the pandemic.

The risk mitigation strategy, if endorsed by city council next week, would provide a breakdown of indicators, explaining the current level of risk and measures the city has in place to lessen the spread of the virus. If the COVID-19 situation worsens, the city could introduce more mitigation strategies to protect city employees and the public, but if the landscape improves, the city could lessen the mitigation strategies in place.

According to the city, those indicators look at Saskatoon's seven-day average of weekly reported cases of COVID-19 for every 100,000 people. The strategy also looks at Saskatoon’s seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the number of positive cases relative to the number of COVID-19 tests.

In the city’s report to the governance and priorities committee meeting, a test positivity rate of five per cent or less indicates the virus is under control.

Vaccination rates in the total population will also be shared in the new strategy, as well as hospitalizations and intensive care patients, and deaths by age, which the city describes as secondary indicators that may steer the city to adopt more strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus.

According to the city, the indicators and measures would be colour coded and based on a four-level risk assessment with green being a minor risk and red being critical risk.

As the city moves up or down the risk continuum, measures are added or subtracted, according to the report.

If the proposed framework is adopted, the city’s administration would report on the primary and secondary indicators weekly. The city said the various measures put in place in response to the indicators would remain in place for at least 30 days and then be reviewed by city council at its next regularly scheduled meeting.