Seven months now since we went into COVID-19 lockdown. Active cases in Nova Scotia peaked in April, and since June the province has been at no more than 0-3 new #covid19 cases per day, mostly stretches of zero cases for up to 2 weeks. Schools have been open for over a month now with no spread, so the virus is most likely not in the community. Travel from outside the Atlantic Bubble requires 2 weeks of isolation, but there are enough exceptions that there is still some risk. Public distancing and masking requirements remain in place, and they generally seem to be working.
We did have a mild scare when Ezra got a fever and a sore throat with sniffles: most likely a common cold picked up from his first week in school, but we kept him home till he got a COVID-19 test, out of an abundance of caution advised by schools and provincial health authorities. The test (long swab in nose) was painful and unpleasant, but he was a trooper and got a popsicle at the end of the experience — and a negative result a day later.
Right now we’re very glad that we moved to Nova Scotia in particular; there’s been a strong local sense of community and civic responsibility in the face of this pandemic that’s been key to keeping it down here — although I fear this will not last, as cases are starting to rise in other provinces and especially the rest of Canada and the world.
Still, right now, in contrast with other places where public health is mired in conspiracy theories and deadly unscientific bluster, I’m proud of Nova Scotia’s general resiliency and [mostly] prevailing good sense. We’re doing okay.
