Sask. nurses' union head pitches short-term 'circuit break' lockdown to help turn back tide of new COVID-19 cases - CTV News Saskatoon | Canada News Media
SASKATOON — Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory joined CTV News at Five anchor Jeremy Dodge to explain why she thinks the province’s new COVID-19 rules don’t go far enough and how a novel approach taken in Australia could help stop the spread of coronavirus in Saskatchewan. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
So last week, you spoke to us here at CTV News about some of your concerns. And they proved not to be unfounded with, you know, over 400 cases of COVID-19 being confirmed on the weekend. Of course, the impact on the healthcare system has been felt by nurses and everybody on the front lines. Now, the government has taken some action, with new restrictions, what are your thoughts on where we stand?
Well, as registered nurses, we were very disappointed with the announcement of the restrictions. We feel that they haven’t gone near and far enough. I mean, I live in a community of less than 1000 people in Saskatchewan, a little place called Stoughton. It’s where our long term care facility is. You know the small towns and villages across Saskatchewan are where the majority of our long term care facilities are. And we’re saying that it’s okay not to mask (in these communities). You know, as registered nurses, we were disappointed. You know, my members are scared, they’re tired, they’re frustrated, and they need to see some action from Premier Moe and from Dr. Shahab, that’s going to actually make an impact on COVID-19.
So can you speak a little bit about some of the impacts that you have seen on our health care facilities and the workers?
Well, what we’re seeing now is workers that are becoming exhausted, they’re tired, they’re scared. When we started this conversation quite some time ago, months ago, with our members, it was an unknown. So they felt really scared about how it was going to affect them, how it was gonna affect their families. Now we’re in the thick of it and they’re feeling that even more. They’re very frightened about their own health and safety and taking (COVID-19) out to the community.
We’re seeing our large hospitals in Regina and Saskatoon are full too, overflowing our intensive care units, our emergency rooms, and that causes then a ripple effect out to other communities. Because now Saskatoon is on bypass. (meaning) very ill people end up having to go out to communities elsewhere and that puts pressure on those communities who are also looking after very ill people. So it’s a very damaging ripple effect that we have happening here.
We are in a very hard situation right now and it requires strong leadership. So we’re calling on Premier Moe to make mandatory masking province-wide. Everybody needs to be wearing a mask, the minute that you leave your home. It doesn’t matter where you live. Everybody needs to be masking.
(Also) we need to take that brave step on doing what we call a circuit break, where we have, you know, two to three weeks where things are shut down. So we can do some catching up in our health-care system. And we don’t feel so stressed and we’re able to get on top of things.
There have been calls for the federal government to step in and maybe do something because this is not this is not just a Saskatchewan issue. This is countrywide. What are your thoughts on that?
We couldn’t agree more. This is a national wide disaster we have ourselves in, and we need to stop the tension that’s always created between Saskatchewan and Ottawa. It’s of no value. We’re all in this together across this country and we need to rely on each other to be able to get ourselves through as communities. So I think this is where we really need to take a real hard look, maybe step back and do some self reflection. Because I want to say that registered nurses are imploring the public to please wear a mask when you go out, wash your hands, social distance, only go out when absolutely necessary. And if we actually come together as a community and do all these things, it’s going to start having such a positive effect on the burden that we have going on in our health-care system.
We know that wearing a mask has all of the scientific proof and all of the research there to support it’s our number one tool in our toolbox to fight against COVID. The other thing that we know is that it will not affect the economy. In fact, it’ll have the opposite effect. It’ll help us to try to stay open and help us keep going. That’s, that’s what we all want to do.
This is about coming together and community. I want to direct people to go have a look at Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne, Australia and the government there made the very tough decision to do a complete lockdown, to make masking mandatory to do all of those really hard things that off the start were not popular. And they had their, I believe they called it like a circle of steel, where if people were not complying, they were dealt with swiftly and off the start people were upset. But when we go and look at Melbourne today, Melbourne today is up and as vibrant as it was pre-COVID. They still have COVID cases, but because they did that really hard, tight lockdown, they were able to get a handle on contact tracing. on the testing of COVID patients, those numbers came down. So the health care system was able to get itself back on its feet. Now they don’t have to have any masking. There’s no mandatory anything, the economy is running and vibrant. If they find themselves in an issue where there’s a hotspot, they do those little circuit breaks where they go into that area and they shut it down. They don’t see the community spread happening. So when we take the strong measures, and we all work together, we’re going to be able to get on top of COVID-19.
Okay, Tracy, thank you very much. Thank you to all your members, of course as we try and get a handle on this. Hopefully we can speak in the not too distant future and have a much better mood about things and some much better news to report.
We can reminisce about what was and how much better we’re doing today.
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.
