P.A. Correctional Centre ( file photo/paNOW staff)

By Glenn Hicks

COVID in prison

Booster jab priority call for corrections officers, latest outbreak at P.A. prisons

Aug 31, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The Saskatchewan Government Employees Union (SGEU) is calling on the provincial government to ensure staff at corrections centres are made a priority for the COVID booster – or third vaccine – once it rolls out. This, as the government announced who would be the very first in line for the extra jab.

SGEU labour relations officer Glenn Billingsley was speaking amid the latest COVID outbreaks at the P.A. Correctional Centre and Pine Grove Correctional Centre. Over 40 staff and over 150 inmates have been infected across both institutions since November although the majority are now categorized as recovered.

“We’ll hope and advocate for each of those corrections officers to be in line as a priority or essential service worker,” Billingsley told paNOW.

The union has long complained officers were not made a priority for the vaccines and should have been designated essential workers. It says they’ve had to endure additional stress and anxiety in the workplace with COVID outbreaks a regular and recurring reality.

Officers face essential worker conditions

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Billingsley said while corrections officers are learning all the time and getting better at managing the COVID challenges they still continue to face the sort of pressures faced by workers that are deemed essential workers.

“These corrections officers are still under mandatory masking and they still continue to wear the face masks and the proper PPE (personal protective equipment) in the work place.”

As of Monday, there were five P.A. Correctional Centre staff actively infected with COVID with 21 staff recovered. Fifteen offenders were considered active with 99 recoveries. A further 15 inmates were released with an isolation plan.

At the Pine Grove Correctional Centre there were no longer any staff infected, with 16 recovered. One offender was considered active while 34 had recovered. Eleven inmates were released with an isolation plan.

All these figures are cumulative since November.

Boosters for immunocompromised

On Monday, the Government of Saskatchewan announced it would start offering vaccination “boosters” to eligible immunocompromised residents starting Tuesday, Sept.7.

Those eligible include residents of long-term care and personal care homes as well as transplant recipients and those undergoing certain medical therapies. The eligibility criteria for other immunocompromised groups would be announced soon, the government said.

‘Uncomfortable’ for the unvaccinated

At the first media conference of its kind in almost two months, Premier Scott Moe – who was joined by Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab – said it would be, “increasingly more uncomfortable” for residents in Saskatchewan to make the choice to not be vaccinated.

While Moe has been adamant there will be no mandatory vaccines or vaccine passports as some other provinces have announced, he stressed the government would support organizations in creating their own policies like the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ call for proof of vaccination or a negative test in order to access their games.

Meanwhile, opposition NDP leader Ryan Meili said the premier’s stance was a “missed opportunity” that lacked an emphasis on testing, tracing and enforceable self-isolation for positive COVID-19 cases. Meili added the government plan lacked vaccine mandates for all large public events, and a plan for full vaccination of school and health care staff.

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glenn.hicks@pattisonmedia.com