None of the tools we need
Nova Scotia Public Health fails to deal with COVID-19
Tim Houston, Dr. Robert Strang and Public Health leaders have failed Nova Scotians.
COVID-19 is the thirdleading cause of death in Canada. It is also the most lethal respiratory disease suffered by children. And yet, COVID-19 runs rampant.
Tragically, at least 1,006 Nova Scotians have died of COVID-19, 45 this year alone; these are “official” numbers that, according to researchers who model excess mortality, fall short of the real death toll.
Nova Scotians seeking guidance around COVID-19 have been forced to rely on sources other than our own Public Health agency. This shocking abrogation of provincial responsibility is costing lives.
In the spring of 2022, Houston’s government eliminated COVID-19 protection measures. Patronizingly assuring us that we had the tools we needed, Houston promptly dismantled protective measures, leaving Nova Scotians unequipped to face new variants in a pandemic that is far from over. COVID19 briefings ended, and the publication of COVID-19 data slowed to a trickle, making it difficult for Nova Scotians to assess their own risks.
Public Health has failed to keep up with evolving COVID-19 science and offers dangerously outdated information; for example, to this day, provincial websites state that COVID-19 is transmitted via large particle droplets that fall to the ground, an assessment that runs contrary to robust evidence that the virus exists as an aerosol that hangs and lingers in the air.
Houston has turned mask wearing into a “personal choice” and downplayed its effectiveness, placing vulnerable Nova Scotians at increased risk of the virus. These same vulnerable citizens struggle to access the effective antiviral Paxlovid, known to reduce the severity of acute COVID, hospitalizations and the risk of long COVID. Houston’s government has limited the drug’s availability, a position in stark contrast to other jurisdictions, such as Quebec, where self-referral for Paxlovid makes it far more accessible.
The premier has also stymied access to information about long COVID, even though the provincial government was warned of its threat as early as 2020. Nova Scotians debilitated by this condition have nowhere to turn.
NOVA SCOTIA VACCINATIONS LAGGING
The sole plank of the Houston government’s COVID policy is vaccination, but even on this front, Houston has failed Nova Scotians who are at high risk and are required to wait longer between vaccine doses than Canadians in other jurisdictions. Immunocompromised New Brunswickers are eligible for a booster dose every three months, while immunocompromised Nova Scotians must wait twice as long. Public Health has also failed to ensure that Nova Scotians are fully vaccinated. Currently, fewer than 2.5 per cent of Nova Scotian children aged 5-11 are considered fully vaccinated, and only 14.2 per cent of all Nova Scotians have received the recommended XBB.1.5 updated booster.
Many Nova Scotians, told by Houston to “get back out there,” have taken the silence and inaction of Public Health policy around COVID-19 as evidence that the virus is no longer a threat. This is an assumption that is killing and disabling Nova Scotians. Astonishingly, Nova Scotians who wish to protect themselves have had to turn to guidance and information from outside our Department of Public Health.
One of the most robust resources is the federal government, which, in sharp contrast to Houston’s “head in the sand” approach, continues to provide evolving and science-based recommendations. The Feds emphasize the importance of masking and clearly state that high-quality fitted masks, ideally N95 respirators, should be worn in indoor public spaces.
Ottawa has also been clear that COVID-19 is airborne and that in addition to limiting the time we spend in indoor crowded spaces, we should all take steps to clean the air by ventilating spaces, filtering the air via industrial and portable air cleaners, and ensuring optimal humidity levels.
The federal government has also provided data and information about long COVID, the mere recognition of which sets it apart from Nova Scotia Public Health, whose websites contain no such information. The federal government cautions that about 15 per cent of COVID19 infections cause long COVID complications, the effects of which can be debilitating. They also caution that with each reinfection that risk increases. Nova Scotia Public Health’s silence on long COVID is an abdication of responsibility.
ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Nova Scotians also have the good fortune to have access to experts such as Dr. Tara Moriarty. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s COVID-19 Task Force and co-founder and lead of COVID-19 Resources Canada, an organization of volunteer scientists who regularly compile data to forecast shifting risks. Moriarty offers to Nova Scotians real-time assessments of our shifting risks at a time when Houston and Strang provide none.
Citizen action groups such as Protect our Province Nova Scotia have also worked to inform Nova Scotians of the ongoing risks of COVID-19. Citizen activists, on their own time and dime, have helped restore some of the tools Houston has taken away by providing ongoing education, by distributing masks and tests, by lobbying government and opposition leaders, and by working with schools to clean classroom air.
Many of us are grateful for those committed to the health of Nova Scotians, but we are left shaking our heads, wondering how a Public Health agency that professes its commitment to “protecting health and preventing disease” has so dramatically ignored this essential mandate and has willingly allowed Nova Scotians to sicken, become debilitated and even die a preventable death.
Since COVID protections were curtailed by Houston in 2022, at least 770 Nova Scotians have died of the virus. Nova Scotians already have the highest rates of disability in Canada, a rate of one in every three. This rate will only increase as more Nova Scotians are debilitated by long COVID.
Houston and Strang have access to the data and advice proffered by their federal counterparts and they have access to citizens groups and scientists who want to help Nova Scotians, but they appear to have little interest in doing so. Houston and Strang could prevent illness, disability and death; they choose not to. They know the truth about COVID-19 and long COVID, but they don’t want you to. It does not have to be this way, and Nova Scotians should press for answers as to why.