Briefing
Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Robert Strang, sporting new haircuts and matching ties, got the band back together on Friday to announce further reopening measures for Nova Scotia. The premier seemed downright giddy in the face of our epidemiology, which shows no new COVID-19 cases in 17 days and no active cases.
It was their first briefing since June 10, when Strang announced he would be traveling to New Brunswick for “minor surgery” and self-isolating for 14 days upon his return. (He thanked Nova Scotians for their messages of support.) In the meantime, Nova Scotia has expanded the number of people who can gather without social distancing to 10 and entered into an “Atlantic Bubble” with Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI and New Brunswick. As of July 3, residents will be permitted to travel between these provinces without self-isolating for 14 days.
Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Robert Strang, COVID update, 26 June 2020.
Today, the premier and Dr. Strang announced a number of new reopening measures:
Restaurants may now operate at 100% capacity — although that means 100% of COVID-19-style capacity, namely, with adequate spacing between tables and booths.
In terms of social gatherings, “recognized businesses and organizations” are permitted to hold outdoor events for up to 250 people, provided public health measures, including physical distancing, are respected. They may also hold indoor gatherings at 50% of venue capacity up to a maximum of 200 people, again, provided public health measures are respected. (Within such gatherings, households or social groups of 10 need not physically distance from each other, but must respect the six-foot rule with people outside their groups.) These expanded limits will apply to “social events, faith gatherings, weddings, funerals and other cultural events, and arts and culture events like theatre performances, dance recitals, festivals and concerts.” Guidelines for these types of events are available here.
Other gatherings — like family gatherings — remain limited to 50 people and subject to physical distancing rules, unless you’re in your social group of 10.
Strang said the distinction is being drawn because the first type of gatherings will involve an organizer responsible for ensuring public health regulations are met.
On the subject of those social groups of 10, Dr. Strang said you should choose who is in your group “carefully and thoughtfully,” with consideration for people’s occupations and underlying health conditions, and “think about how many groups you belong to.” Ideally, he said, groups would be mutually exclusive, but he recognizes this is not possible to monitor — nor is it really functionally possible. Therefore, he advises people to use “common sense” and discourages Nova Scotians from bumping into a group of friends “randomly or spontaneously” and deciding to go to dinner. (He also said restaurants and theaters were encouraged not to sit 10 random people together but to try to accommodate social groups, including smaller ones.)
He also underlined that the group of 10 rule does not apply in workplaces, so 10 people in a conference room, for example, must respect physical distancing rules.
Public pools are reopening for lane swims and aquafit classes and for other activities provided they are limited to “one or more” groups of 10. Facilities must follow the Nova Scotia Lifesaving Society plan for change rooms and washrooms, and Strang warned it will take municipalities and other public pools time to prepare for reopening. In case you’re wondering (and apparently some are) there is not enough chlorine in pool water to kill the virus.
Splash pads, like playgrounds are open.
Private campgrounds may also open at 100% capacity.
People living in homes funded by disability support programs can resume going out into their communities, although it may take time for homes to make arrangements.
Nova Scotians cannot yet visit relatives inside long-term-care homes, although they are permitted outdoor visits. Strang said public health is still working on a plan for indoor visiting.
Numbers
Total new cases: 0
Total cases: 1,061
Total hospitalized: 2 (cases considered resolved)
Total in ICU: 0
Total recovered: 998
Total deaths: 63
Total long-term-care facilities (LTCF) affected: 0
LTCF residents: 0
LTCF staff: 0
Total positive and negative tests to date: 52,614
Age range of patients: under 10 to over 90
Number of Epidemiologists in Dr. Strang’s department: 3
Masks
Dr. Strang upgraded the guidance on non-surgical masks and public health now “strongly recommends” Nova Scotians wear masks in situations where physical distancing — remaining six feet away from people not in your household or your “close social group of 10” — cannot be maintained. Strang says these situations include grocery stores, shopping malls and social gatherings.
Strang said the decision to “strongly recommend” people wear non-medical masks was predicated on the decision to open the border to Atlantic Canadians as of July 3. Strang said although there is no evidence of virus activity in Nova Scotia right now, it could be here “at a very low level,” and it is almost certain to reappear as “larger numbers gather and people enter from outside the province.”
To “get out in front of” that, Strang says he wants to “normalize” the wearing of masks in public, where social distancing is not possible.
He described masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette, cleaning (both in public places and at home) and staying home when sick as the “suite” or “package” of measures we have to keep virus cases “sporadic” and “localized.”
Asked if he could envision making masks mandatory eventually, Strang said it was “certainly a possibility,” albeit one with “a whole bunch of implications” and that would have to be justified by virus activity. He said given current low levels of virus activity, he is comfortable with a strong recommendation.
The premier ended the briefing with some carefully scripted reflections on his own use of masks — or lack thereof — and his recent “soul-searching” on the subject which has made him realize he should wear one more often. He then quoted that Dr. Seuss Classic, Horton Hears the WHO, about an elephant who insists he can hear the World Health Organization telling him to wear a non-medical face mask:
Don’t think of it as a task. When in doubt, wear a mask.
(I made all the Dr. Seuss stuff up, but for the love of all that is good and holy, who writes this stuff for him?)
Atlantic Bubble
Asked what would happen if there were another outbreak as a result of opening up to the Atlantic Provinces, the premier said they would follow the guidance of public health, but that they were encouraged by how quickly a recent COVID outbreak in Northern New Brunswick was contained. The focus, he said, is on “preventing a rapid spike” in the disease.
Strang said he is having regular calls with the public health officers in the Atlantic Provinces.
The premier also noted that we are “seeing numbers start to drop” in Quebec and Ontario and “out West” and Strang said he is in discussions with public health officers at the national level, about Canada-wide reopening.
Yarmouth Ferry
Citing safety concerns, given the “alarming” COVID statistics coming out of the United States, McNeil said he was canceling the 2020 season of the Yarmouth-Bar Harbor ferry. Asked how much the province would be on the hook for the ferry, despite the canceled season, McNeil said he expected there would be “some savings” but offered no hard numbers.
McNeil said “they didn’t feel they could screen passengers sufficiently” to go ahead with the season.
Scrums
Asked by two reporters when he intended to return to in-person interviews, McNeil made it clear it will not be happening any time soon. “You’ve been allowed to ask me questions,” he told CP’s Michael MacDonald.
When MacDonald objected that he’s allowed only two questions although he has many more to ask, the premier said the current setup suits him because it allows him “to feel safe.” (He actually said he didn’t know where the reporters have been.)
Nurses
Asked about a request from the Nova Scotia Nurses Union for funding to increase nursing staff in long-term-care facilities, McNeil began by noting that increasing nursing staff was not one of the recommendations made by the 2018 Minister’s Expert Advisory Panel on Long Term Care but said that, post-COVID, they were “looking at” all aspects of the long-term-care system, including size, which has been identified as a contributing factor to the deadly outbreak at the Northwood LTCF, where 53 residents died.
McNeil reminded reporters that there are 136 LTCFs in the province and the vast majority either had no outbreaks or were able to contain them.
Asked about admissions and re-admissions at Northwood, Dr. Strang directed the questions to Northwood management.
Daycares
Asked if there would be assistance to daycares struggling to remain open faced with higher cleaning costs and fewer children, McNeil said Nova Scotia was unique in Canada in funding daycares during the pandemic.
(A government spokesperson told the CBC yesterday that while the government had promised to cover fees up to a maximum of 50% capacity, the province was willing to work with individual operators “who feel they are not viable or have concerns on a case-by-case basis.”)
University residences
In response to a question about university residences reopening, Dr. Strang says he is involved in ongoing discussions with universities about students from outside Canada, who will have to self-isolate for 14 days. Protocols for students from outside the Atlantic Provinces, he said, will depend on what travel restrictions look like come fall.
Targeted response
Asked if the province’s response to future cases might be “geographically restricted” rather than involving the entire province, Strang said they would be responding in “a more precise way” but whether that was based on geography, or a particular work place or living space will depend on the circumstances.
And that’s all she wrote, folks. Have a great weekend!
