Nova Scotia defends cautious approach
HALIFAX • Nova Scotia was the last province in Canada to report cases of COVID-19, and it now has the dubious distinction of being one of the last jurisdictions to present a formal plan for reopening its economy.
As health authorities reported one new death linked to the virus and one newly confirmed infection on Wednesday, the province’s chief medical officer of health made it clear he would not waver from his cautious, goslow approach.
“We understand that there are significant impacts from our public health measures (on the economy),” Dr. Robert Strang told a news conference in Halifax, where he sat more than two metres from Premier Stephen McNeil.
“But all you have to do is look around the world at other countries, like Germany, which opened up much more aggressively. They have had to step back and re-tighten things down.”
Strang has said the province is following federal health guidelines and he has stressed that the number of new COVID-19 cases caused by community transmission must drop to few or no cases for at least two weeks — ideally 28 days — before an economic recovery plan is implemented.
As of Thursday, Nova Scotia had 1,045 confirmed cases of the infectious illness, with 956 people recovered and eight still in hospital, four of them in intensive care.
In terms of deaths and infections, Nova Scotia’s numbers are worse than those reported in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and all of the other Atlantic provinces.
Meanwhile, the province is conducting consultations with business and labour leaders, who have been told that a wider reopening of the economy won’t happen until early next month — at the earliest.
Kevin Quigley, director of the Halifax-based MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance, said the Nova Scotia government has done a good job of earning public trust by demonstrating openness, knowledge and concern about the risks the province is facing. However, he said he’s at a loss to explain why a plan for economic recovery has yet to be released.
“I still wonder why the other provinces have felt it’s important to issue plans with milestones,” Quigley said in an interview Wednesday. “Why isn’t there a road map for this, and what are the performance metrics? The other provinces seem to be doing that.”
The premier said his government wants to make sure businesses across the province are ready to get back to work as soon as Strang says it is safe to do so.
Dr. Susan Kirkland, head of Dalhousie’s Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, said Strang’s approach has been rational and reasonable.
“Nova Scotia was one of the last provinces to have cases ... and I think that’s it’s quite prudent to ensure that we have our cases under control before we start to open the economy widely,” said Kirkland.