The Saskatchewan Health Authority is reintroducing mandatory masking in the common areas of long term care facilities on September 10th.

The means anyone in a common area of one of these facilities will need to be wearing a mask. This masking protocol is in place in all SHA long-term care homes and affiliate homes, and applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Free medical masks are available at the screening stations when entering a long-term care home, and people will need to wear a medical mask at all times when outside a resident’s room, fit it to cover their nose, mouth and chin,  perform hand hygiene before and after putting on the mask and not lowering it to talk.

While wearing a mask in a patient’s room will not be mandatory, the SHA says, they are still strongly encouraging people to do so in order to prevent COVID-19 transmission among people living in these homes.

The SHA will also continue to performing health screenings, offer rapid COVID testing and monitor the local spread of the virus.