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An information request on how Saskatchewan defined deaths by COVID-19 came up empty, but the Ministry of Health insists it does have criteria.
The ministry responded to a formal information request on February 8. The response was shared with the Western Standard and reads as follows.
“Thank you for your Access to Information Request received in this office on January 25, 2024, pursuant to The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) requesting:
“‘Provide the criteria the Chief Medical Officer used to define a ‘COVID death’ or a death by any of SARS-CoV-2 variants. January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023.
“This is to advise you that the record(s) you wish access to do not exist in the Ministry of Health.”
In a statement sent to Western Standard, Sask United Party leader Nadine Wilson suggested the lack of documentation suggested a fuzzy definition of pandemic deaths that left provincial statistics in question.
“I am deeply concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability from the Ministry of Health regarding the COVID-19 deaths in our province. What message does this send to the public when the government can’t even provide basic statistics on mortality from COVID-19?” Wilson said.
“This is insulting the public’s trust and lacks accountability by the Moe government.”
In request to a query from the Western Standard, the Saskatchewan government gave the following response.
“For COVID-19 reporting purposes, Saskatchewan considers a death to be a COVID-19 death when the death is a result of a clinically-compatible illness in a COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear and immediate alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID-19 (e.g., trauma). The reported cases would have tested positive for COVID-19 on a PCR test or were considered a highly probable COVID-19 case (e.g. were in close contact to a confirmed case and had COVID-19 symptoms).
“This was the standard throughout the pandemic.”
Below, a redacted scan of the response from the Ministry of Health.
