{"id":4710,"date":"2021-11-18T09:42:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T13:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=4710"},"modified":"2021-11-18T09:42:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T13:42:54","slug":"pastor-at-heart-of-covid-outbreak-fined-chastised-by-premier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2021\/11\/18\/pastor-at-heart-of-covid-outbreak-fined-chastised-by-premier\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor at heart of COVID outbreak fined, chastised by Premier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A

Premier Tim Houston. Photo Communications Nova Scotia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Premier Tim Houston calls recent comments by an Amherst pastor appalling and disgusting.<\/p>\n

Nova Scotia public health officials have traced three deaths from COVID-19 back to a faith group meeting held between October 25 and 29 by the pastor of the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Amherst, Robert Smith.<\/p>\n

In a sermon posted online November 14th<\/sup>, Smith acknowledged the three deaths calling them, \u201cpart of God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston didn\u2019t hold back in his response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comments downplaying the seriousness of what\u2019s happening, the comments minimizing the loss of life are completely unacceptable and totally disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following an investigation, Smith has been fined $2,422, the maximum allowed under the Health Protection Act.<\/p>\n

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang shared the Premier\u2019s outrage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am both angry and frustrated,\u201d said Strang. \u201cPeople chose not to get vaccinated, they gathered with both vaccinated and unvaccinated people against existing rules, and these choices have had significant impacts upon others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The faith gathering has been linked to the outbreak of COVID at the East Cumberland Lodge long-term care home. According to public health, the home has had 31 residents and 10 staff test positive for COVID-19, and two of the infected residents have died. Another death in Northern Zone has also been linked to the gathering.<\/p>\n

Dr. Strang also announced during Wednesday\u2019s COVID briefing that over 80 percent of Nova Scotians are now double vaccinated.<\/p>\n

He praised Nova Scotians for the high vaccination rates but had strong words for those who choose not to get their shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who could be vaccinated but aren\u2019t, who are focussing only on themselves, believing misinformation and false narratives and more and more reacting with inappropriate anger, shame on you,\u201d said Strang. \u201cYou want to share in the benefits of Nova Scotia\u2019s strong COVID response but you\u2019re not willing to carry your share of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

E-mail:\u00a0edhalversonnews@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nTwitter: @edwardhalverson<\/strong><\/p>\n

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/COVID-Update-Pastor-Fined-Nov-17-21_mixdown.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Premier Tim Houston calls recent comments by an Amherst pastor appalling and disgusting. Nova Scotia public health officials have traced three deaths from COVID-19 back to a faith group meeting held between October 25 and 29 by the pastor of the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Amherst, Robert Smith. In a sermon posted online November […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[480,43,478,479,98],"class_list":["post-4710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-covid-update","tag-dr-robert-strang","tag-gospel-light-baptist-church","tag-pastor-robert-smith","tag-tim-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4714,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710\/revisions\/4714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}