Pandemic affects people in different ways

When Nova Scotia went into lockdown in March, Eliese Mackinnon thought she would fit right in with the new imposed stay-at-home lifestyle.

“At first, I was like, wow this is exciting ... because it's a real excuse for me not to leave the house,” she said.

Mackinnon lives with a number of mental health issues, including agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder where people fear and avoid places or situations that might cause them to panic and make them feel trapped, helpless, or embarrassed.

She said she usually gets anxious whenever she has to step outside the house and feels guilty when she decides to stay at home, but with the lockdown she had no choice.

“I'm like this will work perfect for my agoraphobia because now I won't have that guilt feeling that I normally have,” said Mackinnon, who is in her 40s.

But Mackinnon was quick to find the opposite.

“It actually made everything worse,” she said. “Now it's even harder to leave the house

homelessness in Halifax Regional Municipality.

"Our new initiative will provide immediate temporary housing for some of our community's most vulnerable individuals. This funding gives us 12 months to work with our provincial, municipal and community partners to create permanent solutions for those experiencing homelessness," Marie-france Leblanc, executive director of the North End Community Health Centre, said.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Chuck Porter said the funding will help "replace beds lost when shelters had to remove beds due to physical distancing requirements and add new ones to our shelter system."

Both organizations, which are located on the peninsula, are expected to open in the near future and be fully operational by the end of the year.