Queens Manor, Liverpool. Photo Ed Halverson

As the omicron variant runs rampant across Nova Scotia, keeping up morale for staff and residents at Queens Manor has become a full-time job.

The long-term care home in Liverpool was declared an outbreak facility after a staff member tested positive December 29 and the first resident followed on January 2.

Executive Director Andrew MacVicar says omicron is present throughout the community and his focus is to eliminate the stigma associated with a positive test among the staff.

“It’s possible that you could do everything right, which our staff are doing, and be, “the one” to bring it into the building when in reality, there will never be a “one” person who brings it into the building, in all likelihood, with the volume of viral activity that’s out there,” said MacVicar.

Long-term care homes were struggling to hire enough workers before the pandemic hit and MacVicar says the most recent outbreak has only made a tough situation worse.

“When you’re starting with sometimes bare-bones staffing, and you are removing a significant number of people with symptoms that would not have prevented them from working in the past, it significantly impacts your ability to fully staff your facility,” said MacVicar.

He says despite dealing with several staff off work because they have either tested positive or been a close contact of someone with a positive test, Queens Manor is still providing a high-level of care to their residents.

But backfilling those positions to care for residents means there is no staff available to train and monitor visitors coming to the facility.

Which is why Queens Manor is currently closed to all visitors except for residents undergoing end of life care.

MacVicar says decreased staff numbers means not even designated caregivers are permitted until the facility completes a two-week circuit breaker.

“We are putting our plan in place to reintroduce designated caregivers as soon as we can because they are an integral part of providing care here.”

MacVicar says Queens Manor is turning a corner as the first people to test positive return.

“As we have residents come off isolation from being positive and staff returning to work from being positive I think it’s a very important step towards realizing that we’re going to be okay and we can live with COVID-19, however that is defined in the future.”

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SSRCE School Bus. Photo Ed Halverson

A parents group is concerned the Nova Scotia government hasn’t fully thought through the return to schools.

Students across Nova Scotia are set to resume classes following the Christmas holidays January 10.

Co-chair of Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education Stacey Rudderham says the province has yet to address long-standing issues around air circulation, proper spacing for students, social distancing and releasing test results so parents can make informed choices whether to send their child to school.

“We want to see kids back in school. That’s definitely something that, you know, everybody agrees on is that kids, as much as possible should be in school,” said Rudderham. “However, a lot of the issues that have existed throughout COVID have not been resolved in our schools.”

For Rudderham and her group, it’s the lack of transparency and openness from officials that is most troubling.

“Last September, when government said they wouldn’t be listing school notices for any of the schools, we started our list and our group and our group grew by thousands of new members within days because we were the place to come and get information,” said Rudderham. “Parents want to know what’s going on in their schools.”

Nova Scotia is reporting 1,020 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday.

Rudderham questions why Nova Scotia is returning to in-class learning when other provinces are moving to an online model until the omicron COVID-19 variant can be brought under control.

She says education and public health officials need to consider there is more than just the school community at stake.

“It’s not just about if our kids are definitely going to get sick. It’s about who else that, you know, maybe they aren’t going to get sick but who are they going to impact if they do carry it home?” said Rudderham.

A representative from the South Shore Regional Centre for Education declined to comment on what measures are being put in place to ensure the safety of staff and students, saying the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will share more information with staff and families about the back-to-school plan later this week.

Premier Tim Houston and chief medical officer of health doctor Robert Strang will provide a COVID update Wednesday at 3:00 PM.

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Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s top doctor says COVID restrictions announced last week are not enough as the province imposes harsher restrictions ahead of the holidays.

New measures set to go into effect Wednesday morning include reducing gatherings to 10 people, limits on in-person faith services and restricting singing to one person, businesses reduced to 50 percent capacity, licensed establishments must stop service at 11:00pm and close by midnight and long-term care facilities limiting visitors to two.

Dr. Robert Strang recognizes the impact these new restrictions will have during the holidays.

“What we are asking you to do now is probably the most difficult request we have made yet. This is a long two years and there’s a lot of disappointment about having to do this yet again in the holiday season. But that is our reality, and we have to deal with it,” said Strang.

A link to the full release and all the new restrictions can be found here.

With 83 percent of samples sent to the national testing lab coming back positive for omicron, Strang says the variant has become dominant strain of COVID in Nova Scotia.

The aggressive nature of omicron has impacted workers across all fields, including the medical profession, leading to staff shortages as employees self-isolate to prevent further spread.

Strang says Nova Scotians need to slow down and reduce their contacts.

“If we continue to have an ongoing high case numbers and building hospitalization rates, we reach a point where our healthcare system become very, very challenged from two perspectives: higher numbers of people requiring medical care in hospitals and worsening of an already existing challenges around getting the number of healthcare workers we need,’ said Strang.

He ended his prepared statement with a personal message to Nova Scotians.

“I want to end today speaking you from my heart. This is a worrisome sad and frustrating time. As your chief medical officer of health, I feel immense pressure to make the right decisions to protect Nova Scotians and to find the best balance to minimize harm from COVID and COVID control measures. I’m not gonna get it right every time and in retrospect, perhaps we did not get things quite right last week,” said Strang. “Things are changing fast with this new variant and there is limited information but please know that my recommendations and decisions always have the best interests of all Nova Scotians in mind.”

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Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is returning to tighter COVID restrictions Friday as the new omicron variant has reached the province and infection numbers climb.

At Monday’s update, Dr. Robert Strang says the restrictions will focus on masking, gathering limits and physical distancing.

Strang says he has been asked why, if our province has such high vaccination rates public health is panicked.

“There is no need to panic but there is a need to be cautious. We don’t know enough about this variant to wait and see what happens,” said Strang. “We cannot take the risk of wider spread into more vulnerable groups like seniors and those that are immunocompromised and potentially putting pressure on our health care system.

Beginning Friday December 18, the restrictions coming back in to play will see indoor and outdoor informal gatherings limited to 20 people from the same household or consistent social group.

Six feet of physical distance is required indoors and outdoors, except among that household or consistent social group.

Businesses can operate at the maximum capacity possible with physical distancing and food and liquor-licensed establishments must have physical distance between tables and a limit of 20 people per table.

People must be seated to remove their mask for eating or drinking.

Schools will implement a return to restrictions Tuesday.

In addition to masks again being required when physical distancing cannot be maintained, school concerts are cancelled, sports teams from different schools will no longer compete against each other and classes can no longer mix with other classes in the same schools.

The province reports 114 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

Public Health also announced rapid COVID tests are available in libraries across Nova Scotia.

Anyone testing positive from a rapid test must self-isolate and book a PCR test to verify the result.

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