Nova Scotia Health officials are urging people to keep up with vaccinations, stay home when sick, wear masks — especially around people who are more vulnerable — and carefully choose which social gathering to attend amid a surge in cases of respiratory illnesses among young children.
Dr. Andrew Lynk, the chair and chief of pediatrics at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, said during a press conference Thursday that acute care services for children are “stretched, stretched, stretched.”
“Get your vaccinations, folks. Get your vaccinations for goodness sakes and get your kids under five vaccinated … don’t wait because if you want to go to an emergency department with your sick two year old with a high fever and throwing up and wait for hour and hours and be sitting amongst everybody else, it’s not a good situation.”
Lynk said some of what he’s seeing in the intensive care unit could be prevented by following public health advice, which includes hand washing and vaccinations.
“I just walked through our intensive care unit at the IWK today and there’s little babies and even four year olds in with RSV, who are in the intensive care unit. We have other kids in with flu now, in the intensive care unit. We can prevent some of this. Not all of it, but we can prevent some of this.”
Lynk said it’s going to get worse before it gets better if busy children’s hospitals in Ontario and Quebec are any indication.
ICU stretched thin
“These are at historic levels I had never seen before in my career here since 1990 as a young pediatrician,” Lynk said. “Normally, a very busy 24-hour shift at the IWK emergency department would be 120 to 140 kids. That would be very, very busy. We’re consistently hitting between 150 and 180, even up to 200. And it’s a big challenge and parents are having to wait hours and hours and hours.”
The IWK’s pediatric intensive care unit has been operating at 100-160 per cent capacity between Nov. 4 and Nov. 15. On Nov. 6, the IWK reported a record number of visitors — 200 — to its emergency department.
Respiratory syncytial virus is surging in Nova Scotia and across Canada, causing infections of the lungs and respiratory tract. It can result in severe infection in some people, including babies under two and older adults with pre-existing conditions. (sfam_photo/Shutterstock)
RSV infects the lungs and respiratory tract. It can result in severe infection in some people, including children under two and older adults with pre-existing conditions.
For most people, RSV leads to cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever.
Lynk said some surgeries have been cancelled at the IWK because of increased pressures on the health-care system, but he said so far, there have been no deaths from this wave of RSV.
Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said the province would not be bringing back a mask mandate. He said the province is seeing a number of different respiratory viruses circulating in the community and a start to the influenza season that’s six to eight week earlier than usual.
“This year the disease activity is high and … it started earlier,” Strang said. “We need to be prepared that this may continue for the next two to three months.”
Mainstreet NS17:28‘We need to stop focusing just on COVID,’ says Strang as flu season begins
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, reiterated his advice to Nova Scotians about proper hand washing, staying home when sick and vaccination as respiratory illnesses put a strain on the province’s health-care system.
Strang said he understands that it can be difficult to stay home when sick, but said people should make it a priority.
He asked employers to to stop asking employees for sick notes because “this is an unnecessary pressure on the health-care system.”
Strang said people with mild symptoms should avoid going places they don’t need to go. He also discouraged visiting elderly family or babies, even if they have the mildest symptoms.
People who have any symptoms need to wear masks, Strang said, to help curb the spread.
Finally, Strang reminded people to wash their hands, not touch their face and to cough and sneeze into their arm.
Dr. Robert Strang and Dr. Andrew Lynk speak to reporters in Halifax about a surge in respiratory viruses among children on Nov. 17, 2022. (Paul Poirier/CBC)
Most of the viral transmissions observed by Public Health are in private settings, Strang said. That’s why a mask mandate wouldn’t be effective at the moment because it would only apply to public spaces.
Australia had an earlier start to its flu season, Strang noted, but it was not prolonged or more severe than usual. He noted the highest rates in Australia were in children and adolescents.
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.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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