ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Wednesday was lucky number 13 in Newfoundland and Labrador — the province is only one day away from marking two full weeks without new cases of COVID-19.
In addressing growing impatience with the slow movement to relax restrictive health orders, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald reiterated her point that the measures have gotten the province to where it is.
“This has not been easy, but our lives will not always be restricted,” she said during Wednesday’s video briefing.
While a few measures have been lifted, the next significant change — Alert Level 3 — won’t come until the second week of June, assuming cases remain low.
And while the coronavirus is not even on the radar anymore, Fitzgerald assured it is still lurking and will return as the province opens up more.
“It would be certainly exceptionally surprising if we didn’t see a second wave based on what we know about the way these viruses move through populations,” she said.
However, she is confident officials now have the strategies and experience to address it once it does.
Premier Dwight Ball seemed to admit not every decision has held up to scrutiny.
“Over the last few weeks we have made decisions that haven’t been easy, decisions that haven’t been even perfect, but these are decisions, and they were made with your health in mind and the future of you and your families in mind,” he said.
“As a province, we have supported Dr. Fitzgerald’s thoughtful public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID. As we’ve seen from many different areas of the world, and as (Health Minister Dr. John) Haggie rightfully said, this is a virus that spreads like wildfire. None of us, that we know, wants to be the spark that starts another wildfire.”
Ball referenced the Caul’s Funeral Home cluster in March, in which one or two infected people generated almost 200 cases.
“That example is startling, and can be a wakeup call to how quickly it can move.”
Key coronavirus news
• Fertility clinics on hold
• Cities plead for help
• Big biz bailout finalized
• Ottawa asks for equity
•Tam urges mask use
For up-to-date information on coronavirus, visit our COVID-19 news centre at saltwire.com
Asked about businesses that may defy orders to open up, Ball said the restrictions under each alert level have been clear for months.
“It’s no different than anyone that seems to be breaking … the special measures that have been put in place,” he said. “We expect people to follow them.”
Meanwhile, both Haggie and Ball echoed previous caveats that suspected violations should be reported through the department’s online form and not through social media.
“While social media may generate some shares, it won’t necessarily generate any results,” Haggie said.
Haggie also did an informal tally of messages he has received from doctors as to the province’s pace of reopening.
“At the moment, the too-fast crowd are winning and the too-slow crowd … are actually losing the count in terms of emails,” he said. “That’s not an invitation for every physician in the province to write to me, of course.”
Customer base
Ball offered a unique argument Wednesday for not laying off public workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some other provinces have done. He said they’re largely the ones keeping the bare bones economy afloat.
“A lot of them are working from home. Businesses will rely on them as customers,” he said. “So it’s really about the economics of the province and making sure we do not cause too much disruption.”
He also said their salaries cover supports they might not get otherwise.
Related
- New businesses, new owners do best to overcome challenges of COVID-19
- What could business in Newfoundland look like post COVID-19
- GUEST COLUMN: Canadian small businesses after COVID-19
“These are not people who would typically be able to apply for many of the federal programs, and laying off public-sector workers right now would cause bumping within the system based on seniority and so on.”
Updating the state of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the province, Haggie said surgical gowns have replaced masks as one of the main problems at the moment.
He also said the department is paying anywhere from five to seven times more for PPE under current market conditions. That may soon affect the department’s bottom line.
“That will represent a challenge and at some point, when the dust settles, we’ll figure out where that money will come from and there will be discussions with Treasury Board.”
However, he has not been given any indication health authorities’ plans to restart surgeries have been hampered by equipment shortages.
In other developments Wednesday:
- The premier welcomed federal funds to help business tenants and property owners avoid evictions. The cost-shared money will go to the landlords, and tenants are still expected to contribute 25 per cent of the normal rent.
- Haggie said the infectious disease group at the Health Sciences Centre has signed up to participate in any clinical trials for treatments, but no suitable patients have been identified yet.
- To date, the chief medical officer’s office has approved 2,600 applications for exemption from the province’s travel ban since May 4, and 2,214 have been denied. Of those, 67 are being reconsidered.
Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering health for The Telegram.
