Daily briefing
Dr. Robert Strang announced three additional COVID-19-related deaths at the Northwood long-term-care facility in Halifax, bringing total deaths at the facility to 45 and total deaths province-wide to 51.
Nova Scotia announced four new cases, all associated with Northwood — two staff and two residents. In response to a reporter’s question, Strang explained that one of those residents was living on a floor in Northwood Manor that had been COVID-free prior to the discovery of this case.
Dr. Robert Strang, NS COVID-19 Update 13 May 2020
Strang also noted that Public Health had been working “diligently” to track, and audit, and reconcile all the data on tests, active cases and recoveries and today’s active case numbers from LTC facilities match the provincial active case numbers. As a result of this work, active cases at Northwood were reduced from 157 to 64, while active cases among Northwood staff increased by five because five individuals who had been listed as recovered turned out to be still active.
On the subject of testing at Northwood, Strang said they continue to test staff and patients who have tested negative are tested multiple times because, he says, some people don’t test positive until the third or fourth test, not, he says, because they were exposed between tests but because it took that long for enough virus for a positive test to build up in the back of their nose and throat.
Numbers
Total new cases: 4
Total cases: 1,024
Total hospitalized: 9
Total in ICU: 4
Total recovered: 870
Total deaths: 51
Total long-term-care facilities (LTCF) affected: 3
LTCF residents: 64 (Northwood) 1 (other LTCFs)
LTCF staff: 13 (Northwood) 1 (other LTCFs)
Total positive and negative tests to date: 35,628
Age range of patients: under 10 to over 90
Asymptomatic transmission
Noting that Strang had previously explained why randomly testing asymptomatic people was not effective (he explained it again today, saying that any clinical test is more effective when there’s a significant chance of its being positive; I am not sure why this is so, but apparently it means testing large numbers of asymptomatic people can produce inaccurate results and waste lab capacity) the CBC’s Shaina Luck asked if the province was considering other ways of figuring out how widespread our COVID-19 outbreak has been.
Strang said Public Health and the “clinical” people are looking at options like testing “selective groups,” but said what will really help — and what is being discussed at the national level — is the ability to do a sero-survey, i.e., to test people for the antibodies associated with COVID-19. Those numbers compared to known cases will give us a sense of how many people may be immune from wave one of the epidemic.
In related news, Health Canada has authorized the first COVID-19 serological test for use in Canada — the DiaSorin LIAISON, produced by an Italian multinational biotechnology company.
Bubble families
Asked if he was considering following New Brunswick and PEI and introducing “two-bubble” households (meaning people who have been self-isolating together in one household can socialize with people who have been self-isolating together in a second household), Dr. Strang said he had had a conversations about the possibility today, but noted that it’s a complicated undertaking and that New Brunswick has “invested a lot of time in explaining” how it works to people.
Strang says that as he continues his consultations with various groups across the province, there are a “range of things” being considered, like loosening restrictions on some types of gatherings, rather than bubbles.
He says this will be covered in Phase 1 of his reopening plan which, given our “encouraging epidemiology,” we could enter by the end of May or early June, although it will all depend upon the epidemiology continuing to be encouraging. In response to a reporter’s question, he said he continued to consult with representatives of a range of sectors (he met with veterinarians today) but will not be presenting a detailed plan for Phase 1 this week.
Asked what would be in Phase 5 of the reopening, Strang said that the federal government has given some guidance on this but it will be up to the province to decide exactly which activities and events would be the last to reopen. He did say, though, that the category would likely include high-risk activities involving lots of people gathering in close proximity to one another, like cultural or sporting events.
PPE
The premier was asked about supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and whether local companies have been able to contribute to provincial stockpiles.
McNeil said they had enough supply for 90 days for workers in the provincial healthcare system and those private sector entities that had helped the province out with PPE when we “started this journey with the pandemic.”
McNeil said he will be speaking to the Atlantic premiers today and they will be discussing how they can ensure that there are local companies — he cited Stanfield and WearWell by name — capable of producing PPE for the region.
He said the goal is to “enhance and strengthen” regional PPE manufacturing capacity in the “months and years ahead.”
Domestic violence
A reporter brought up reports (first carried by the Halifax Examiner) that domestic violence had been a factor in the Portapique shootings, and that the gunman’s cache of illegal weapons had been reported to RCMP six years ago and asked whether the premier would commit to a public inquiry into the incident.
The premier ducked the inquiry question on the grounds the RCMP investigation is “ongoing.”
He was more forthcoming on the subject of domestic violence, though, saying he wanted to step away from the mass shooting to say that Nova Scotians must “come to terms” with the fact that it is happening, that “women and children are afraid in their homes” and that this was “completely unacceptable in this day and age.”
A second reporter, citing a statistic published by the Globe and Mail yesterday that at least nine women and girls have been killed in “what are believed to be domestic homicides” in just over a month during the COVID-19 pandemic, asked the premier if he felt Nova Scotia was “doing enough” to combat the problem.
McNeil said it was never enough “if women and children are living in fear,” and addressed women in abusive situations directly, telling them there are “people in this province ready to help them.”
Borders
The premier was asked to comment on the New Brunswick premier’s intention to keep provincial borders closed except for essential travel. According to the CBC:
Delivering goods, moving to or travelling through New Brunswick to get to other provinces is allowed.
But entering the province to shop or visit friends and family is still prohibited.
McNeil said the rules at the Nova Scotia border remain unchanged: people entering are advised they must self-isolate for 14 days, the only exceptions being people crossing the border from New Brunswick to get to work in, for example, Amherst.
McNeil said any decision to relax the rules for self-isolation will be on the advice of Public Health and based on epidemiology.
Elective surgeries
Asked when hospitals and clinics would begin doing elective procedures, day surgeries and diagnostic testing again, Strang said he wasn’t directly involved in those discussions.
The Premier said the minister and deputy minister of health were both working with the NSHA and IWK on the question of day surgeries and as soon as they had a plan, he would provide an update.
McNeil closed today’s briefing by saying reopening is not a contest and while some other provinces have begun the process, it’s worth remembering that Nova Scotia was the last province hit by the virus.
“Pandemic”
Canadaland Commons has been doing an emergency season called “Pandemic” about COVID-19 in Canadian LTC facilities and I highly recommend it.
As is always the case with Commons, host Arshy Mann relies heavily on the work of a variety of reporters — all of whom are credited and many of whom appear on the podcast to discuss their work.
I just listened to the latest episode which focuses on Ontario and explores the chronic underfunding of that province’s LTC sector that has led — you will find this familiar — to poorly paid care assistants being forced to work across multiple facilities. A recipe, we have since discovered, for a COVID-19 outbreak.
I am intrigued that privately owned homes are at the center of the epidemics in Ontario and Quebec but not here in Nova Scotia, although low-pay and part-time work are certainly factors here. I predict there will be some excellent journalism making sense of such discrepancies in the months to come, but for a thoughtful look at the situation as it is still unfolding, you could do much worse than Commons.
