Daily briefing
Today’s briefing ended with Dr. Robert Strang announcing that he has to go to New Brunswick for a minor surgical procedure that is not performed in Nova Scotia (he has a form of skin cancer that “develops locally” but does not spread). He will be following the rules when he returns and self-isolating for 14 days so the briefings will be put on hold although he will be working from home.
Dr. Robert Strang, NS COVID-19 Update for 26 May 2020 (I finished today’s report before the photos came through. This is obviously not a Raptors tie.
Premier Stephen McNeil announced that effective June 15, visits can resume at long-term-care facilities (LTCF) and homes for persons with disabilities, although they must take place outside, with people staying six feet apart from each other. To begin with, two visitors at a time will be permitted and visitors will be screened as they enter the facility and are asked to wear non-medical masks. Anyone feeling in any well unwell “should not even consider” visiting.
Each facility will designate areas for visiting and visitor information will be logged (including date and time). Strang said this will help Public Health in case they have to trace contacts. Strang noted that although visits can begin on June 15, not all facilities will necessarily be ready by Monday and asked that people be patient.
Strang reiterated that the disease can spread more rapidly in such facilities and many residents have underlying conditions putting them more at risk from the virus.
Strang also addressed the reconciliation of data, saying today’s numbers are up-to-date and are all coming from Panorama, the Public Health data system. The reconciliation has resulted in a few changes: the recovered category is now called “resolved” to better reflect the fact that the case has been closed by Public Health, meaning all follow-up and contact-tracing has been completed. (Asked if he was aware of any deaths still under investigation, Strang said he was not.) Case numbers are now given by the Zone in which the individual lives rather than the one in which the sample was taken for testing.
There were no new cases today, no deaths, and the last case at Northwood has been resolved.
Nevertheless, Dr. Strang said his department will be keeping a very close eye on the epidemiology over the next few weeks to see how the loosening of restrictions has affected disease activity.
Strang called on Nova Scotians to continue to think of each other and to follow the Public Health rules as we continue to ease restrictions. He wore a Toronto Raptors tie because apparently it has been one year since they did something important.
Numbers
Total new cases: 0
Total cases: 1,061
Total hospitalized: 2
Total in ICU: 2
Total recovered: 994
Total deaths: 62
Total long-term-care facilities (LTCF) affected: 0
LTCF residents: 0
LTCF staff: 0
Total positive and negative tests to date: Subject to reconciliation
Age range of patients: under 10 to over 90
Number of Epidemiologists in Dr. Strang’s department: 3
Protests
Asked if Public Health had plans to test people known to have been at protests in Halifax last week, Dr. Strang said they will certainly ask people who present themselves for testing if they have attended a protest, but they had no plans to pro-actively seek out people who had been in attendance because Public Health doesn’t know who those people are because we don’t live in a total surveillance state (that last bit is me, not Dr. Strang.)
That said, Strang mentioned he knew that researchers were looking to monitor people who had attended a protest and were willing to come forward voluntarily for testing.
Children
Strang was asked about a letter written by Quebec pediatric specialists requesting that physical distancing restrictions on children be eased because the mental toll on them is worse than the threat of COVID-19.
Strang said that the mental well being of all people — including children — is an important factor considered when setting restrictions and it would be taken into account when designing protocols for the reopening of schools. (I am not sure what the protocols for licensed daycares, scheduled to open Monday, say about physical distancing.)
Next steps
Asked when people visiting care homes would be able to “hug their loved ones,” Strang said that after opening so many businesses and allowing protests (which are ongoing) we have to wait and monitor the epidemiology to determine the effects of these steps before easing restrictions further.
Asked if there had been any confirmed COVID-19 cases traced to protests in Halifax (or, presumably, to protests in those areas of the province that are not Halifax) or to the funeral processions for members of the Canadian armed forces that took place in Halifax, Strang said there have been none.
Lockdown revisited?
Asked if, in the case of a second wave, we might be able to continue conducting business following the rules now in place, Dr. Strang basically said that this was the goal.
He said the hope would be that if we start to see a resurgence, first, we will have the surveillance in place to catch it early and second, we will have the ability to take a more “nuanced and targeted” approach to prevent spread. Since March, when everything was shut down precipitously, Strang said we’ve learned a lot about the virus and businesses now have plans to allow them to operate safely, both of which should facilitate this “targeted” approach.
That said, if there is a sudden, sharp resurgence of the virus, we could end up where we were back in March.
Good night and good luck
And that (I sincerely hope) is that — we’ve made it through the first wave and with any luck, future cases will be sporadic and will not require thrice-weekly updates from the premier and the chief medical officer of health.
