Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health says it won’t be long until a map will be online that outlines where cases of the novel coronavirus are in the province.
At Tuesday’s press briefing, Dr. Robert Strang said the map will show the four health zones of Nova Scotia and numbers of cases that are in each health zone.
“We didn’t want to do that until we had at least five cases in each of those zones,” Strang said. “That’s a standard epidemiologic principle that you don’t talk about less than five cases.”
He said there have been technical issues with getting the map on the government website, but it’s coming soon.
The province announced 20 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing Nova Scotia’s total to 147. Five additional cases were announced Monday.
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Four individuals are currently in hospital and 10 have now recovered.
One case of community spread has been confirmed.
0:39 Coronavirus outbreak: 20 new cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, total of 147
Coronavirus outbreak: 20 new cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, total of 147
4 health authority employees test positive
Four Nova Scotia Health Authority employees have tested positive for COVID-19, three of which, Dr. Strang said, are cases public health officials are already aware of.
The NSHA says none of the staff who are sick work in the long-term care sector, and none work directly with patients.
On Monday, the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) confirmed that one of its members, an NSHA staff member at the East Coast Forensic Hospital, has tested positive.
NSGEU president Jason MacLean said that the individual did not work directly with patients at the facility.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority isn’t providing details about what roles or facilities the employees worked in, but said Monday that three are in the central zone, which includes Halifax, while the fourth is in the eastern zone, which includes Cape Breton, Antigonish, and Guysborough.
The four employees are in self-isolation, along with their close contacts. The NSHA has not said how many close contacts are away from work awaiting tests.
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A spokesperson for the NSHA said in an email that public health may name the facility where a sick staff member works, if a patient had close contact with an affected employee at that facility.
Beware of COVID-19 misinformation, Strang warns
Strang warned the public to be cognizant of where they are getting their information relating to COVID-19.
He said there are “unscrupulous people” providing misinformation about the virus, including products that “boost your immune system” or “cure you from COVID-19.”
“This information is wrong and it is dangerous,” he said. “We know there is a lot of research underway – legitimate research – that people here in Nova Scotia are involved in, around looking for developing a vaccine, around looking at existing medications or creating new medications to actually be able to cure COVID-19.
Strang also warned of phone and email scams offering to sell gloves and face masks.
“We have no idea of the quality of that equipment, whether it actually is safe and effective to use,” he said.
“Don’t be taken in by these people who are preying on your concerns and your fears.”
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Correction: A previous version of this story said that Dr. Strang identified three of the NSHA staff who tested positive as workers in long-term care homes, but the NSHA has issued a clarification, saying that none of the staff who are sick work in the long-term care sector.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are legally obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, beginning March 26, in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others. Some provinces and territories have also implemented additional recommendations or enforcement measures to ensure those returning to the area self-isolate.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
