Roundup: 24 more COVID deaths, Druhan ends masking in schools, N.S. family goes to Europe to help refugees, outcry over electoral boundaries, New Glasgow man faces child-porn charges
The Russian invasion continues to ravage Ukraine, creating thousands of refugees and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Photo: Government of Canada
Plus: Buildings are a big greenhouse gas contributor — HRM wants homeowners to help fix the problem
On the same day health officials reported that COVID has killed 24 more Nova Scotians, education minister Becky Druhan announced plans to end masking in schools, effective May 24.
Druhan offers little rationale for the move, beyond noting in a press release that governments across Canada have similarly cut protections.
But the Canadian Medical Association Journal cautions against following that herd: “School systems with mask mandates have a lower incidence of COVID-19 amongst students and staff … The benefit extends to the community, with fewer cases.”
Despite the 24 COVID deaths from May 10 to 16, Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, says the latest epidemiologic summary contains “welcome news,” with declines in hospitalization and confirmed cases.
Provincial labs confirmed 2,513, COVID cases in the last week with 59 people hospitalized due to the disease, but other experts say those figures don’t give a true picture. Dr. Tara Moriarty, director of an infectious diseases research laboratory and professor at the University of Toronto medical school, estimates that Nova Scotia was tallying about 24,000 new cases per day as of late April.
So far, COVID is known to have has killed 6,272,408 people worldwide, including 40,296 in Canada and 378 Nova Scotians.
World Health Organization officials add that those are only the deaths directly from COVID. When they tally deaths that doctors could have otherwise prevented had COVID not exacerbated an existing condition, the count skyrockets to 14.9 million.
South Shore family goes to Europe to help refugees
Mahone Bay’s Lynn Hennigar, her partner Adrian Bohach, and her son recently spent 10 days in Poland, volunteering at a Lublin warehouse where they helped sort and repackage humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine’s war victims.
Bohach’s grandparents immigrated from Ukraine, making the war’s humanitarian catastrophe a personal one for the family.
“This is the first time I’ve had the nudge to do something in a crisis, rather than write a cheque,” Hennigar says. “That was pretty awesome.”
Keith Corcoran reports for LighthouseNow.
Outcry over electoral boundary changes
Antigonish County councillors are upset about an upcoming federal election boundary change that will see their community removed from its central Nova Scotia riding, and grafted onto one largely comprised of industrial Cape Breton.
“I definitely think we need to speak up loudly about this,” says Councillor John Dunbar. “We have common interests with the Strait region, with Port Hawkesbury. We have nothing in common with Glace Bay.”
Drake Lowthers has the story for the Reporter.
Greener housing
Buildings account for 70 per cent of HRM’s greenhouse gas emissions and the municipality aims to cut energy consumption by half by 2040. To get there, 5,000 homes a year need extensive efficiency upgrades.
“To be able to reduce your energy consumption by at least 50 per cent, you’re going to have to do more than one thing,” says Lara Ryan, a sustainability solutions consultant who’s helping the municipality work towards net-zero.
Learn how the city plans to tackle the problem in Janet Whitman’s latest for Unravel Halifax.
Pictou County man faces child-porn charges
Police recently arrested a 43-year-old man at an apartment in New Glasgow, levelling several charges related to child pornography, including uttering threats, extortion, voyeurism, making child pornography, obtaining sexual services from a minor, and sexual exploitation of a young person.
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