The Nova Scotia government announced Friday it is immediately easing some public health restrictions around COVID-19. The province also reported an additional death and 12 new cases of the virus.
Some of the initial steps include:
Reopening provincial and municipal parks (excluding playgrounds and beaches), trails and community gardens. Skate parks are open.
Reopening garden centres, nurseries and similar businesses.
Sport fishing is permitted from shore or boat, but fishing derbies are not allowed.
People are now allowed to go to boating, yacht or sailing clubs to prepare boats for use.
Golf driving ranges can open, including those at golf clubs. Courses must remain closed, but golf clubs can perform the necessary preparation work for reopening.
People can use their cottages, but use is restricted to one household unit at a time. Travel must be directly to the cottage and back. Travelling back and forth frequently from cottage to primary residence is discouraged. This does not apply to cottage rentals.
Provincial and private campgrounds are still closed, but staff are now permitted to do maintenance work for reopening. An exception to this rule is recreational vehicles parked year-round at private campgrounds, which can be used but must follow the same rules.
Drive-thru religious services will be allowed as long as people stay in their cars and are parked two metres apart and there is no interaction between people in cars or between people in cars and others.
Rules around physical distancing and social gatherings remain in place. People must keep two metres apart and not gather in groups of more than five.
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Premier Stephen McNeil warned restrictions will return if public health measures aren’t followed.
“I’m worried about all of you and I’m worried about how we are coping,” McNeil said during a press briefing on Friday, referencing COVID-19 deaths, the mass shooting, and the military helicopter crash.
“We need to get over our heads and out of our houses and get outside. We need to feel that fresh air, a little freedom. The keyword is a little.”
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil warned that if public health restrictions aren’t followed, tougher ones will be put back in place. (CBC)
While the easing of those restrictions came into effect immediately, it could take a little while for some municipal parks to reopen.
Shortly after the announcement was made, Halifax Coun. Waye Mason said unlocking the gates to popular destinations like the Halifax Public Gardens may not be complete until the end of the weekend.
“Don’t look for loopholes and don’t bend the rules,” McNeil warned.
Beaches and playgrounds still closed
Beaches and playgrounds will remain closed.
“Most of us don’t have a beach in our community and would have to drive a fair distance to get to one. And we really don’t want people driving long distances if they don’t need to,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health.
“Playgrounds have many challenges to maintaining social distance for kids, plus have many high-touch surfaces that cannot be sanitized. So for those reasons for now, we’re keeping beaches and playgrounds closed.”
If a provincial park has a beach, the beach part of the park is closed, Strang said.
He said the province will be monitoring to see if there is an uptick in COVID-19 cases after the restrictions are eased. He said it could take two weeks to see the impact of this weekend.
‘We have not lost sight of the economy’
Mental health played a big role in the province’s decision to ease restrictions, McNeil said.
When it comes to people violating physical distancing rules, the premier said adults — not children — are the worst offenders.
He said talks about reopening the economy will begin soon.
Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said if people are going to head to trails and parks, they should go to ones that are nearby. (CBC)
“We have not lost sight of the economy. We have not lost sight of how we’re going to work with our private sector,” McNeil said.
“Right now, this is about Nova Scotians and trying to help all of us deal with what we’ve been asked to deal with.”
State of emergency extended
The province also announced Friday that Nova Scotia’s state of emergency has been extended to May 17.
There have now been 29 deaths in the province due to COVID-19, with 23 of them happening at Northwood, including the death announced Friday.
As of Thursday, there were 237 residents and 105 staff at 10 long-term care homes and seniors facilities that had COVID-19.
A map of COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia released by the Nova Scotia Health Authority on Friday, May 1, 2020. (Nova Scotia Health Authority)
Ten people are currently in hospital because of the virus, with three of them in intensive care.
Nova Scotia has had 959 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 592 individuals now recovered.
The following is a list of symptoms for COVID-19:
Fever.
New or worsening cough.
Sore throat.
Runny nose.
Headache.
Anyone with two or more of those symptoms should visit 811’s website for a self-assessment questionnaire to determine if 811 should be called for further assessment.
Police enforcement
Police across Nova Scotia are continuing to charge people under the Nova Scotia Health Protection Act.
Nova Scotia RCMP have charged 190 people with offences related to the provincial state of emergency. Five of those charges have been since April 28.
Cape Breton Regional Police have so far issued 98 tickets, with 21 of those tickets handed out this week.
Halifax Regional Police have issued 152 tickets since the state of emergency was declared, with only one ticket issued since Monday.
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.
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.
