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NEWS

1. Threat of long-term symptoms increases with multiple COVID-19 infections: Statistics Canada report

Yvette d’Entremont reports on a new study from Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada on the dangers of repeat COVID-19 infections.

There are many ways in which COVID is not “just like the flu,” and one of them is the long-term damage it can cause to multiple organs, including the brain. People who have experienced repeat infections are far more likely to suffer from long COVID, which can include debilitating symptoms.

d’Entremont writes:

[The study] found that Canadians who reported two COVID-19 infections (25.4%) were 1.7 times more likely to report long-term symptoms than those who’d had only one infection (14.6%). Those with three or more infections (37.9%) were 2.6 times more likely to suffer prolonged symptoms. 

As of June 2023, an estimated 2.1 million Canadian adults were experiencing long-term symptoms as the result of a COVID-19 infection. Among Canadians who reported long-term symptoms, 58.2% continue to experience them compared to the 41.8% who reported them resolved…

The national study released Friday found that despite the wide range of reported long-term symptoms, some do appear to be more common. The most frequently experienced are fatigue (65.5%), brain fog (39%), and shortness of breath (28%). The report noted these more common long-term symptoms have also been reported internationally.  

Click or tap here to read “Threat of long-term symptoms increases with multiple COVID-19 infections: Statistics Canada report.”

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Lisa Barrett told Portia Clark at CBC that testing for COVID continues to be important:

You can do things for yourself at home and one of those things is getting tested.

It is useful to know if you have COVID-19 and often, these days, the home tests are positive later, so if you test at home because you have symptoms and it’s negative the advice from public health is still to stay at home and test again.

Because one test is negative doesn’t mean you [don’t] have COVID-19. Tests are still important, tests are still useful…

We have lots [of test kits] in Nova Scotia.

Take a look around your favourite public market, grocery store, your pharmacies in some places, MLA offices, lots of places to find rapid tests.

You can go online and you can find some places to get them.

Reach out, get some and if you’ve got older people at home who have mobility issues or anyone who is not getting out and about make sure you pick up some extra tests for them.

We want people to have them at home before they get sick so they’re present and you can test and test again.

This is a helpful thing to do for yourself and the province.

The first I heard of long COVID was in this story by d’Entremont, published in the Examiner in November 2020. It was called, “Long haulers: six months after contracting COVID-19, some people still suffer from the disease.”

The story starts like this:

It’s been eight months since Doug Cochrane tested positive for COVID-19. These days, the 55-year-old from Hacketts Cove, N.S. said he feels more like 75.

Cochrane finds it challenging to talk for longer than 10 minutes, and his voice is raspy when he does. The professional genealogist who’s worked on projects for Warner Brothers, major TV shows, and law firms now finds it difficult to remember three items on a list. He regularly experiences dizziness, extreme fatigue, and muscle pains that are particularly intense in his hands and feet.

“Sometimes I get out of bed and my feet are so sore I can’t stand on them to use the washroom or to let the dogs out. I just can’t walk,” Cochrane said in an interview late last week. “I don’t want to sound maudlin or anything like that, but sometimes I feel like I’m feeling what the end of life feels like, some days it’s just really that bad, not mentally but physically. It’s not a good feeling.”

Cochrane and his wife Lisa, 53, are among an unknown but growing number of so-called post COVID long haulers, people experiencing an array of mild to significant health challenges months after being infected with SARS-CoV-2.

They’re calling on the province to do more to help people who continue to struggle months after being infected.

Disabled people started warning about long COVID pretty early in the pandemic. I recall people saying that once the sense of immediate emergency passed, those facing long-term effects of COVID would find themselves struggling to get help from a medical system that’s not always great at managing chronic illness, and that they would have difficulty being listened to in a society that prefers to not think about disability and chronic illness. I can’t remember who it was, but I do recall someone on a social media platform saying we live in a culture that “doesn’t give a shit” about long-term illness and disability.

I think we are seeing that play out with COVID.

Yesterday, the New York Times published a superb piece by Ed Yong, who has been covering the pandemic and long COVID brilliantly. It’s called, “Reporting on Long Covid Taught Me to Be a Better Journalist.“

Yong writes that two months after the pandemic was declared, people with long COVID were already organizing, forming support and advocacy groups: “They knew then what is clear now: People infected by Covid can be pummeled by months or years of debilitating symptoms, including extreme fatigue, cognitive impairment, chest pain, shortness of breath and postexertional malaise — a state in which existing symptoms worsen after even minor physical or mental exertion.”

Let me quote Yong at some length:

Covering long Covid solidified my view that science is not the objective, neutral force it is often misconstrued as. It is instead a human endeavor, relentlessly buffeted by our culture, values and politics. As energy-depleting illnesses that disproportionately affect women, long Covid and M.E./C.F.S. are easily belittled by a sexist society that trivializes women’s pain, and a capitalist one that values people according to their productivity. Societal dismissal leads to scientific neglect, and a lack of research becomes fodder for further skepticism. I understood these dynamics only after interviewing social scientists, disability scholars and patients themselves, whose voices are often absent or minimized in the media. Like the pandemic writ large, long Covid is not just a health problem. It is a social one, and must also be understood as such.

Dismissal and gaslighting — you’re just depressed, it’s in your head — are among the worst aspects of long Covid, and can be as crushing as the physical suffering. They’re hard to fight because the symptoms can be so beyond the realm of everyday experience as to seem unbelievable, and because those same symptoms can sap energy and occlude mental acuity. Journalism, then, can be a conduit for empathy, putting words to the indescribable and clarifying the unfathomable for people too sick to do it themselves.

Many long-haulers have told me that they’ve used my work to finally get through to skeptical loved ones, employers and doctors — a use that, naïvely, I didn’t previously consider. I had always imagined that the testing ground for my writing was the minds of my readers, who would learn something new or perhaps even change what and how they think. But this one-step model is woefully incomplete because we are a social species. Journalism doesn’t stop with first-generation readers but cascades through their networks. Done well, it can make those networks stronger.

This is an interesting and sad commentary on authority: family members and employers are skeptical about the long COVID symptoms people they know, and in some cases love, are experiencing — until they read about those symptoms from a respected journalist.

Yong also writes about how he changed his approach to interviewing in order to accommodate his sources and their health. If an interview is too much for them, then fine. They can cut it short and reschedule the rest for later.

As an editor, I’ve worked with disabled and neurodivergent writers. One writer told me they were hesitant to take on an assignment because they were worried their first draft would be a mess and it would be too much work for me. I told them dealing with that was my job, not theirs, and not to worry about it. They still worried, but they also produced a great article. Another writer said they didn’t think they had the spoons to write the piece I had asked for (if you are not familiar with spoon theory, you can read about it here). We had a lot of back and forth, the writer consulted with other spoonie writers, and decided she was fine with doing the piece. My point here is not that I’m doing some special thing as an editor, but that there is so much toxic bullshit in the news business about being hardnosed that we miss out on stories because of an absorption in that mythology. (I can honestly say that the Examiner team does not buy into any of this bullshit.)

The same can be true of how we approach sources.

So many people have COVID and it’s mild and so think it’s no big deal. The long fight to get the dangers of Lyme disease recognized come to mind here too. Yong writes that the problem is in part structural, in terms of both culture and the news business:

Our love of iconoclasts privileges the voices of skeptics, who can profess to be canceled by patient groups, over the voices of patients who are actually suffering. Our fondness for novelty leaves us prone to ignoring chronic conditions that are, by definition, not new. Normalized aspects of our work like tight deadlines and phone interviews can be harmful to the people we most need to hear from.

We cannot afford those weaknesses. Around the world, tens of millions of people are suffering from long Covid. Some might recover but most long-haulers don’t fully return to their previous base line. At the same time, the pool of newly sick people will continue to grow since our leaders have rushed us back to an era of unrestrained airborne pathogens and lax public health policies 

Two weeks ago, I was at a medical conference in Montreal. It brought together clinicians, researchers, advocates, people currently in treatment, and people who had been in treatment, plus family members and other support people. One of the things that struck me was a sense of cooperation in moving towards a common goal, rather than the paternalism we often see from the medical system. Family members and people with lived experience were on the panels and in the working groups, alongside the clinicians and researchers, and they were referred to as “experts” in conference communications.

We need more of this. People are experts when it comes to their own experiences. As Yong says, there are a lot of people with long COVID, and that number is going to keep increasing as COVID infections continue unabated because we can’t bring ourselves to implement even basic measures to keep them at bay.

Imagine if we had learned that pathogens in water caused enormous amounts of sickness and disease and then said well, you are in control of your own health. You can learn to live with cholera, or buy your own bottled water or filters, if you want. It’s a matter of individual choice.

That’s what we’ve done with COVID and air quality, and we are barely beginning to see the consequences.

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2. Stretch of Lawrencetown Road to be realigned to avoid future washouts

The provincial government has announced that a section of road along Lawrencetown Beach on the Eastern Shore is being realigned to help ensure it remains open during and after storms.

In a media release Monday, the Department of Public Works said pounding surf and storm surge from the Atlantic Ocean has in the past “significantly” damaged the 500-metre section or roadway along Route 207. The road realignment project involves removal of the existing section and constructing a new road further from the coast. It will also include naturalizing the area, although the release did not specify what that will entail.

The realigned section is located between the MacDonald House and the west entrance to Lawrencetown Beach Provincial Park. It will have less slope than the existing section of road and is expected to reduce the need for costly repairs.

“We know the frequency of storms is increasing and we need to make sure this highway remains safe for the community,” Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and MLA for Eastern Shore Kent Smith said.

The project will cost the provincial government $1,020,668, a figure being matched by the federal government. Construction is expected to begin in early 2025.

But, you know, doing anything about climate change is going to cost too much.

Surfers are happy about the change. The release quotes Victor Ruzgys with the Surfing Association of Nova Scotia’s coastal access committee:

Our hope is that it will be a long-term solution to increase safety and protect a vital artery to the community, while at the same time creating the potential for more parking capacity and recreational space at the iconic landmark that is Lawrencetown Beach headland.

Got to love those press release quotes. Imagine if people actually talked like this.

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3. Northern Pulp

Joan Baxter reports on Northern Pulp’s latest request to have its creditor protection further extended:

Northern Pulp has asked the Supreme Court of British Columbia for yet another extension of the creditor protection it has been enjoying since June 2020.

The extension request is the 12^th Northern Pulp has made, and if Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick grants it in a court hearing today in the British Columbia court, creditor protection will be extended until June 2024. 

The province and the company are engaged in a secret mediation process. A judge in BC will hear the request for an extension today. Meanwhile, the company has stopped special pension payments.

Click or tap here to read “Northern Pulp wants bankruptcy hearing kicked down the road again, to June 2024.”

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4. Changes at Halifax Pride

Halifax Pride members elected a new board at the organization’s AGM in October, and the organization has rehired Fiona Kerr as operations manager, on an interim basis. Kerr had previously held that role. Former executive director Adam Reid returns as board chair.

Interestingly, one of the top posts on the Halifax Pride website is titled “Thanks to departing staff members.” The departing staff members are… Fiona Kerr and Adam Reid.

In a media release Halifax Pride says plans are underway for the 2024 Pride festival. Kerr says she is “incredibly optimistic.” She adds:

We knew it would be a lot of work to stabilize after 2023, but community partners are excited to re-engage with Pride. This is a crucial time for our community to be able to gather, and we can’t wait to give folks that opportunity again next summer.

I am sure the organization wants to avoid repeating the confusion and turmoil around last year’s Pride (which Evelyn White referred to as a “fiasco”).

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5. Cape Breton RCMP sells decommissioned cars that are still identifiable

Matthew Moore at CBC reports on the RCMP selling former cruisers at a public auction in Sydney:

…When CBC went to a public viewing for the vehicles, one vehicle had a manufacturer’s badge labelling the car as being a police interceptor…

Another vehicle had reflective markings on the back bumper, while some cars had documents within their centre console. One included a wanted poster for someone connected to a murder case listing an address. A second vehicle had a form requesting an oil change and listed an officer’s name and phone number.

I found this bit interesting:

“The RCMP have been pushing back, wanting the government to lift the ban on the sale of these vehicles because they argue that we would at least want our retired members to be able to purchase them,” [St. Thomas University criminology professor Michael] Boudreau said.

I am not sure why it’s better to have retired cops driving former cruisers than other members of the public.

Sidenote: Someone I know used to own a former police vehicle. It had no markings of any kind, but if you knew cop cars, you knew it was a cop car. He could park wherever he wanted, and never get a ticket.

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VIEWS

1. Helpless men

A couple of days ago, I saw this text, on an Instagram post from a small Nova Scotia business:

It’s that point in the season when we start seeing our final wave of shoppers—THE STRUGGLING HUSBANDS!

All those bewildered cuties trying to shop for everyone on their list in 5 minutes or less. WE GOT YOU!

Ladies, don’t leave it to chance. It’s cute to think that they know us really well, but our extensive research shows they do not. Here’s what you do:

1) Send him out with a short list of your interest categories. We specialize in: cocktails & bar, home decor, smelly stuff, christmas decor, tea, clothing from @noreasterapparel, books, art prints, chocolate, and funny novelty items to make you laugh.

2) Send him with your t-shirt size

3) Send him with a budget limit

4) If you have hobbies, please put them on the list it helps us to fill in the blanks (again, he really doesn’t know)

We’ll take care of the rest and even wrap it for him. We know this season is about more than gifts under the tree. But let’s face it, he’s gonna get you something so you might as well like it too!

I am not naming the business, because this isn’t about them. It’s about the helpless husband phenomenon.

I understand the tone here is supposed to be jokey and the advice helpful. “He really doesn’t know.” But the whole phenomenon is pernicious.

During my brief stints working retail, I saw them too: the guys who would race into the store a couple of days before Christmas, grab the first thing they saw, and then buy it and leave, frantically, on to the next stop. (The only other people who bought items with barely a glance were the secret shoppers, who we could pretty much spot the moment they came in the door.) I remember one guy barking, “Do you have calendars? I’m giving everyone calendars!” We did not have calendars.

But the hapless/helpless man trope doesn’t do anyone any favours. The partners of these men have to take on the burden not only of shopping for them, and, in many cases, family members, but they also have to be responsible for their own presents. Men are perfectly capable of learning when birthdays are and what gifts family members would like, and I am sure they are also capable of handling the logistics of, say, organizing a birthday party.

This is yet another case of the patriarchy being bad for everyone. Sure, men may get off the hook through their helplessness, feigned or otherwise, but at the cost of infanitilization and, ultimately, resentment and contempt.

I have almost always worked from home, and there were years when the kids were young when I was the stay-at-home parent. I was in grad school, while my partner was teaching. Or I was working from home while she was in grad school.

There were certainly things I could have done better. I was not great about noticing when the kids needed new clothes, for instance, and going out and buying them. But I was perfectly capable of taking care of them, cooking meals, and organizing get-togethers with other families. I should also have done more about taking responsibility for their clothing.

I will never forget talking on the phone to mothers of my kids’ friends, who would always ask to speak to my partner if they wanted to arrange anything related to our children. At one point, one of them wanted me to pass on a message to my partner (rather than just making whatever the arrangements were with me) and when I said I would, she asked, “Do you have a pencil?”

That was probably 20 years ago, and I still feel annoyed thinking about it.

I grew up in a smallish suburb, and my grade one teacher (a New Brunswicker) and my mother became friends. I remember being shocked when her husband wanted a can of soup, and she had to open the can for him because he, apparently, did not know how to do it. This was the heyday of the electric can opener, so maybe a device of such complexity utterly defeated him, but surely he could have learned how to use it through sheer trial and error. But it was easier to just say he didn’t know how and let his wife take care of it.

Ultimately, infantilizing men and making excuses for them can’t be healthy on either a personal or a social level.

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NOTICED

Show time in Halifax

Quite a concert lineup for Halifax this summer. Oh… wait. It’s that Halifax.

One of my all-time favourite assignments was writing for Halifax Magazine (RIP) about other places named Halifax. The story, which ran in 2017, was inspired after someone emailed the magazine from the UK, complaining it did not focus enough on West Yorkshire. Ahem.

I interviewed people from places named Halifax on three continents. One of them, of course, was the Halifax in Yorkshire, where there was a project underway to revitalize the Piece Hall, a trading hub for cloth merchants that dated from the late 1700s. At the time, the amalgamated municipality’s chief executive, Robin Tuddenham, told me: “It’s a very special building that’s been in a state of decline for a number of years, and we have been on a journey to restore it… [It] will become our destination for shopping, retail, and telling our story for the north of England.”

I’m glad they pulled it off. It sure is an impressive building.

The Christmas market looks like fun too.

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Government

City

Today

Budget Committee and Halifax Regional Council (Tuesday, 10am, City Hall and online) — Budget Committee agenda; Regional council agenda

Tomorrow

Audit and Finance Standing Committee (Wednesday, 10am, online) — agenda

Special Transportation Standing Committee (Wednesday, 1:30pm, City Hall and online) — agenda

Board of Police Commissioners (Wednesday, 4pm, HEMDCC Meeting Space, Alderney Gate and online) — agenda

Regional Centre Community Council (Wednesday, 6pm, City Hall and online) — agenda

Province

Today

Health (Tuesday, 1pm, One Government Place and online) — ER Closures and Doctor Retention; with representatives from Nova Scotia Health, Department of Health and Wellness, and Doctors Nova Scotia

Tomorrow

Public Accounts (Wednesday, 9am, One Government Place and online) —  2023 Report of the Auditor General – Financial; with representatives from the Department of Finance and Treasury Board

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On campus

No events

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In the harbour

Halifax

16:30: Tropic Hope, container ship, sails from Pier 42 for West Palm Beach

Cape Breton

16:00: Arctic Lift, barge, with Western Tugger, tug, sails from Quarry North for sea
19:30: Euro, crude oil tanker, sails from Everwinds 1 for sea
20:30: Phoenix Admiral, oil tanker, arrives at Everwinds 1 from New York City

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Footnotes

DIY footnote today: Insert your own clever remark here.

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