'These are real people': With COVID deaths well above the norm, N.S. seniors share concerns
CBC
As the COVID-19 pandemic lingered and the death toll increased, Nova Scotian Judy Aymar noticed how the province's leaders no longer offered condolences when new deaths were announced.
"These are real people," she said. "These are people who at one point in their lives, they built families, they built communities and they helped build the province. Why have they become a statistic and not a person?"
The province's COVID-19 briefings once started with updates on how many people had died and would include condolences from the premier and chief medical officer of health.
But briefings have been discontinued. Updates on the state of the pandemic now come from a weekly update to the province's COVID-19 dashboard, as well as monthly epidemiology reports.
The province says 753 people have died from COVID-19 — including 27 that were announced Thursday. The median age of death during the Omicron wave is 84.
Aymar, a 76-year-old retired social worker from Upper Tantallon, said Nova Scotians pride themselves on helping and supporting people during times of loss.
But she's worried.
"Why have we, as Nova Scotians, accepted this silence?" said Aymar. "Why are we so silent that seniors are still dying and why aren't we giving them dignity and acknowledgement and a thank you for all that they did?"
The Nova Scotia government did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
According to the province's January epidemiology report, Nova Scotians 70 and older have a death rate from COVID-19 that is 280 times higher than those under 50.
Aymar said she thinks the province should have a day of acknowledgement — not a holiday — to pay tribute to people who have died from COVID-19 and the contributions they made.
With COVID-19 restrictions lifted in Nova Scotia, seniors are particularly vulnerable, said Robert Huish, an associate professor at Dalhousie University whose expertise includes global health ethics.
"It's almost full reliance on the vaccine and on people's own willingness to mask up or choose to stay at home, so it's moved from that collective duty to individual choice and responsibility," he said.
Huish said fatigue sets in with public health campaigns, and it's reached that point with COVID-19.
In just a few short months, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will make history.
Chiefs from Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta are calling for a pause on the pipeline memorandum of understanding until they are consulted and sign off on the potential project. And they're threatening legal action if that doesn't happen.
When dolphins swam onto the scene during a study on northern resident orcas off the coast of B.C., at least one researcher admitted to being a little annoyed.
Researchers say there's been a dramatic rise in the number of people going on medications to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Ontario, suggesting factors such as more time spent online and the rise of private assessments for the mental condition could be behind the increase.
Baby, it’s cold outside — but it’s worth putting on that heavy winter coat, scarf and boots and heading out for one of the best meteor showers of the year: the Geminids.
Health officials are reminding Canadians to maintain healthy habits during the holiday season, as influenza leads to more school absences and hospitalizations.
For 40 years, staff at Nova Scotia's Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens thought their ginkgo tree was male.
Health Canada has authorized a new drug to treat postpartum depression.
A website selling moccasins with what looks like Haudenosaunee-style beadwork but with no attribution to an artist or community has sparked conversation online about how to identify authentic Indigenous crafts.
More Canadians have a family doctor or nurse practitioner compared with three years ago, but satisfaction remains low, a comprehensive new survey suggests.
This could be an unusually good year to spot snowy owls in southern Canada.
Over five dozen items belonging to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are one step closer to returning home.
After Canada announced Tuesday it wouldn’t list the American eel under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) some First Nations people with cultural and spiritual ties to the species are questioning the decision.