COVID in Cumberland and Now in Pugwash
Pugwash now has a case of COVID-19. Whether it is the first, the tenth, or one of many doesn’t matter. What matters is that COVID is now present in the community and begs a local response.
One patient is now isolating at home after contracting the virus in Amherst. This marks the fourth public recognition of COVID in Cumberland County, an area previously thought to be virus free for more than the last year. First it was a town employee in Amherst, then a case in Parrsboro, followed by the closure of the county’s municipal office in Springhill where COVID was detected.
Mayor Murray Scott contacted public health officials this morning, including Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health. The mayor is concerned that Dr. Strang says it is OK for people with two homes to move from one to the other as long as they move once and stay there.
However Mayor Scott points out that such an interpretation is the direct opposite to the current order that prohibits travel beyond your home municipality. Changing municipalities, especially from a hot zone like HRM, raises the danger of COVID transmission.
Given the normal summer practice of moving to the cottage —an especially common practice in the Pugwash area on the long weekend in May — local officials are united that something more should be done to protect the more pristine area of Cumberland where residents have clearly helped to limit the viral spread.
Mayor Scott, Deputy Mayor Kathy Redmond, and local councillor Jennifer Houghtaling want Nova Scotia Health to quickly organize a pop-up testing centre in Pugwash to provide real information and peace of mind to local residents.
For his part, Dr. Strang has doubled down on his stand that people should be allowed to pick either of two homes and stay there. In a response to the Mayor’s earlier message, Strang said, “Here is the standard answer we are providing to questions on travel within NS.”
That standard answer included:
- People can travel outside their community only when it is necessary.
- Your community is primarily your municipality.
- For outdoor physical activity, you can travel within your county.
Strang said, “We are asking everyone to use their judgment and common sense in making decisions and to stay as close to home as possible.”
However, the chief medical officer suggested that staying close to home doesn’t matter when it comes to moving. Despite the danger, he will still allow people to move between homes (home and cottage) provided they move only once. He repeated, “People can travel across the province to make this one time move but then they need to make that their local community within which the travel restrictions apply. Travelling back and forth between two homes is not permitted.”
Local officials would rather people stay where they are until the COVID numbers and the greater danger is reduced. Perhaps, as a minimum protection, people exchanging homes should be required to self-isolate for fourteen days after arrival in the new community.
What provincial officials may not realize is the potential impact in a smaller rural community is much greater than in Halifax and other urban centres where COVID currently sustains larger numbers. Most small communities may have only one grocery store, one hardware store, or one of any essential service that could be wiped out with even a small outbreak.
Further, the Pugwash hospital is tiny by comparison to health care facilities in HRM — where the current decision makers live — and could be quickly overwhelmed.
While local leaders are reluctant to say it, they are concerned that Central Zone thinking does not apply to life in rural Nova Scotia.
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