N.S. won't shut down the same way during another COVID surge, says top health official

The civil servant in charge of Nova Scotia's Health Department is promising a different approach if COVID-19 infections surge this fall, as is expected.

Deputy Minister Dr. Kevin Orrell, who took over the job in the midst of the pandemic, told a legislature committee Tuesday the plan doesn't include shutting down services or cancelling surgeries almost completely in the way hospitals did last spring.

The province's approach to freeing up resources to handle a surge that never came has created a backlog in surgeries and cases deemed to be elective or non-urgent.

"Our plan is to proceed with capacity for COVID and to maintain provision of health-care services without having to stop it completely like we did the first time," Orrell said after his appearance before the Nova Scotia Legislature's standing committee on health.

Members of the committee met today for the first time since February to ask Nova Scotia health officials about pandemic response and preparedness for a potential second wave.

During the meeting, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston pressed Orrell, the deputy health minister, about the resumption of non-emergency health procedures and tests in Nova Scotia.

Those procedures were halted on March 18 to free up hospital beds for COVID-19 patients. While the province has begun rebooking those procedures, a backlog remains.

Houston asked if Nova Scotia's health minister knew the extent of the backlogs and what steps the minister was taking to clear them.

Orrell said the department doesn't have absolute numbers, as different health zones have different waiting lists. He said the minister is aware of the backlog and is working on ways to clear it.

Long-term care

The issue of long-term care was brought up by MLA Susan LeBlanc of the NDP caucus. She asked Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, about what is needed to prevent future waves of COVID-19 from putting the lives of long-term care residents at risk.

Fifty-three people died as a result of COVID-19 at the Northwood long-term care facility in Halifax.

Strang said long-term care has long been known as a risk. He said health officials are working with each facility to ensure they have a robust plan for another COVID-19 outbreak, and plan to substantially strengthen those measures.

Orrell said the review into the deaths at Northwood should be ready in the next couple of weeks and suggested that one change that is likely coming is hiring more infection-control specialists.

"We need more of those people around to help when a situation like this pandemic exists," he said. "So we know those things and we're waiting for other recommendations that will come from the review."

He said the needed changes would take a long time and would be expensive to implement.

LeBlanc brought up shared rooms at long-term care facilities as an issue, but Orrell said it's important for residents to have roommates who they can socialize with. He said the larger issue has more to do with shared bathrooms.

LeBlanc also challenged Orrell for suggesting that, without the pandemic, long-term care facilities in Canada "could have gotten by for, you know, hundreds of years as it was."

She said successive reports over the years have called for more money and better resources to ensure homes were properly staffed and services were adequate.

Strang says borders should stay closed

Liberal MLA Leo Glavine asked about how flu vaccinations can potentially help with managing COVID-19.

While Strang said the flu vaccine would not protect against COVID-19, it could help prevent influenza cases during flu season, reducing the flu's impact on Nova Scotia's health system.

Glavine said the province has done a "marvellous job" of controlling the coronavirus and asked what Nova Scotians can do to keep COVID-19 numbers low.

Strang said Nova Scotia currently has no community spread of COVID-19, and all of the "sporadic cases" in the last couple of months have come from people arriving from outside of the province or the country.

"That's why we need to continue to focus on having fairly tight restrictions on our border … and the ongoing requirements for a quarantine," he said. 

"We have to be cognizant that we are seeing increases of COVID-19 in our larger provinces: B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec."

He said part of the reason for those increases has been "a relaxation" and instances where there have been large gatherings and other events sparking community spread.

"We have to continue working together, all of us, to practice the personal protective measures," he said.

No new cases of COVID-19

No new cases of COVID-19 were identified in Nova Scotia on Monday, the province announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

There are three active cases of the virus in the province.

One new case was identified in the central zone on Sunday, but the province has not released details about whether that person was self-isolating, whether the case is related to travel or if there is any risk of community spread.

Nova Scotia Health completed 861 tests on Monday.

The province has had 1,086 positive cases and 65 deaths related to the province. No one is in hospital related to the virus.

The latest numbers from around the Atlantic bubble are:

• P.E.I. reported two new cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of active cases to nine.
• New Brunswick reported no new cases on Tuesday with two active cases.
• Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases and has two active cases as of Tuesday.

Symptoms

Anyone with one of the following symptoms of COVID-19 should go to this website to see if they should call 811 for further assessment:

• Fever.
• Cough or worsening of a previous cough.

Anyone with two or more of the following symptoms is also asked to visit the 811 website:

• Sore throat.
• Headache.
• Shortness of breath.
• Runny nose.