In just over a month, our world has changed dramatically.

On March 8, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, which means it is worldwide and includes community spread. A week later Nova Scotia’s first three possible cases of COVID-19 coronavirus infectious disease were announced. At that time, 418 tests were done, 415 were negative. The three cases were all travel related. Travellers were soon required to self-isolate and watch for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days immediately after leaving the airport.

On March 22, the Nova Scotia’s Government declared a state of Emergency, putting several restrictions on our movements and closing non-essential businesses, as well as parks, beaches and walking trails.

Healthcare professionals were redeployed from the Halifax Infirmary to help deal with the Northwood outbreak reporting 170 residents and 58 staff testing positive, including 11 deaths as of April 24. The ten licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors’ facilities are some of the hardest hit

How COVID-19 is affecting healthcare professionals in Halifax

• I had to close my mobile massage business because of the pandemic temporarily; however, I stay in touch with clients through social media. I check on their condition, recommend exercises to help them keep mentally and physically active, and offer educational information through social media.

• Clients say they miss their massage treatments and they can feel the difference already in their bodies. It will take time when all this is over, to bring them back to where they were with regular treatments. I miss my clients, but I agree with the government’s stay at home rules.
• Family doctors have turned to phone or telehealth appointments to continue to care for patients while observing the social distancing and stay at home rules.

• Some people work from home, such as computer technicians who help us stay connected while being apart. Many small businesses have shut down during the pandemic putting their owners and their staff out of work. Financial worries add to the threat of contracting the virus.

What are “essential services”?

Staying home all of the time is not easy. Still, there are many, those working in essential services, who are working harder than ever during this pandemic. The term “essential services” is based on the risk of death or serious health consequences, should these services be removed. These include the mental or physical health of a client. Essential services include healthcare professionals, first responders, pharmacy and grocery stores. All those people who support the running of hospitals and nursing homes and grocery stores, etc. Many worry about bringing the virus back to their own families.

On April 24, Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, told the story of a Nova Scotia nurse who decided to go to a hotel for the duration of the outbreak, to prevent her family from being potentially exposed to the virus because of her work.

Some of the restrictions covered by the Health Protection Act Order include:

Travel outside the province is strictly limited, and people are to stay at home and only go out for essentials such as grocery shopping or prescription refills. Residents have to maintain 2 meters or 6 ft. Distance between themselves and any other person. One person in the family is to do the shopping and a maximum of one day per week or less. One member of the family is only allowed to go out and go shopping. At the stores, you see lineups, spaced by 2 meters per person, outside grocery stores now.

Businesses that were not providing essential services were told to close. Restaurants are limited to take out orders only. Parks, beaches and trails are closed with steep fines, up to $1000, for people who ignore the rules. All schools have been closed for some time. As most people in the province know, the healthcare system going into this pandemic was strained with long waits for surgeries and long delays in emergency rooms. A shortage of doctors, and some emergency rooms offering limited hours or in smaller communities, shutting their doors.

Since the outbreak, elective surgeries have been postponed, as have some diagnostic imaging tests. The increase of cases and the need for isolation of patients in the hospital requires hospital staff to wear protective clothing due to the contagious nature of the virus. These healthcare professionals’ very stressful occupations got even more stressful.

The COVID Update from the Nova Scotia coronavirus website on April 24, reported 850 positive cases in the province, including 23 new cases reported, 392 people have recovered, and 16 people have died. Patient ages range from 10 to over 90 years. Eight people are in hospital.

The QEII Health Sciences Centre microbiology lab completed 921 Nova Scotia tests on Wed., April 22, and is operating 24 hours. Since the beginning, there has been a total of 24,521 negative tests.

The virus calls the shots, and we try our best to escape it. Let’s look back to when it began here. Since January 2020, the province has had a website dedicated to updating and educating residents on the virus, even before we had confirmed cases, . It offers a wealth of information, including a list of all those restrictions under the Health Protection Act, updates on cases, locations of Assessment Centers and warnings of possible exposure locations. It also links to the latest COVID-19 podcasts by Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

For them, for yourself, your friends and family, stay home, stay safe.