HALIFAX — Just a day after reporting its largest single day increase of COVID-19 cases since the health crisis began, Nova Scotia reported another death related to the virus Tuesday.
The province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Robert Strang, said the death occurred at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax, and brings to 10 the number of COVID-19 deaths in the province.
“It is tragedy upon tragedy these days,” Strang said, alluding to the mass shooting in the province Sunday that left at least 23 people dead.
Nova Scotia reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 737.
“We now have 10 licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors’ facilities that have had cases of COVID-19,” Strang said at the daily briefing. The number of residents involved among those facilities is 128 and the number of staff is 62.
Eleven people are currently in hospital with COVID-19 in the province — three of them in intensive care — and 286 cases have been resolved.
Strang said everything possible is being done to stem the outbreak at Northwood.
“We have established infection control practices along with appropriate personal protective equipment for health-care workers that we use every year for respiratory viruses such as influenza. We have established appropriate outbreak control measures specific for COVID-19,” he said.
“There are some challenges unique with Northwood given the multiple introduction of the virus and the large size of the facility,” Strang said.
He said infection control practitioners are at Northwood to support staff to make sure they can minimize the chance of further spread of the virus.
Strang said while they are dealing with patients there, some cases are better off in hospital.
“If there is a need for somebody to go to hospital, they will go to hospital,” he said.
Meanwhile there were no new cases of COVID-19 among the other three Atlantic provinces Tuesday.
New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Jennifer Russell, said her province is expanding the scope of testing, while in Newfoundland and Labrador, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Janice Fitzgerald once again reminded citizens to follow guidelines and practice social distancing.
In Prince Edward Island, where the total number of cases remains at just 26, Premier Dennis King said his province would look to begin to ease some of the public health restrictions in early May.
“As we begin looking at ease-back, we must recognize that this requires us to act smartly, cautiously, methodically. We need to continue our strong screening process at our points of entry, as one of the biggest potential risks to our province has been — and continues to be — those travelling,” King said.
“Our plan, as we have been practising to date, will for the foreseeable future err on the side of public health and safety. We have made incredible strides through the process of containing COVID-19, and we surely don’t want to go backwards,” he said.
P.E.I.’s chief public health officer, Dr. Heather Morrison, said the lifting of restrictions would start with certain outdoor activities and elective procedures in the health system.
—By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2020.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
