Reinstate COVID-19 Public Health Measures in Newfoundland and Labrador
Reinstate COVID-19 Public Health Measures in Newfoundland and Labrador
The Issue
Newfoundland and Labrador has minimal measures in place to protect our kids under 12, our medically vulnerable, and those who do not have vaccine yet. We need measures back to start the school year. Why are we risking the safety of our children and our province as a whole?
Sign this petition if you feel we should bring back, testing on entry, isolation on entry, cohorts in schools, and the other safety measures that kept us safe during the first year and a half of the pandemic. Delta is more contagious, we need more protection against it, not less.
With Delta Variant cases rising all over the country, we need measures put back in place to protect our entire province. Vaccination is one piece of the fight against Covid-19 and the Delta Variant, but it has to be paired with safety measures that stop, and or slow the spread of the virus should it reach our province. Without measures we are wide open.
“This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020, NL has been a global leader in safety precautions and proactive safety measures, which led to the province enjoying great success in terms of infection totals, hospitalizations, and deaths related to Covid-19 and Variants.
Since the beginning of the summer, the province has been dialing back safety measures under the direction of CMHO Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr Janice Fitzgerald.
At the time of the reduction of measures, Covid-19 cases across Canada were in decline and our country was at a point where Vaccines were slowing the spread of the virus, and as a result, case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths were at levels that provided many provincial leaders with the data to relax measures in time for summer.
This positive turn was short lived however as case numbers began to rise first in British Colombia to a point where they had to reintroduce mask mandates in many areas after having ended those mandates weeks before based on vaccination percentages.
Currently Alberta, British Colombia and Saskatchewan, are seeing case surges that are very troubling as they are pushing their healthcare systems to the brink, and seeing record numbers of youth infections.
The numbers from Alberta this past weekend are that 1639 kids contracted Covid 32% of all cases with infants under 1 yr 29 cases, 1-4 yrs 248, cases 5-9 yrs 575 cases, and 10-19 yrs 787 cases.
In BC, for the week of Sept 9 to Sept 15. Ages 0-4 - 141 infections. Ages 5-11 - 428 infections. Ages 12-17 - 309 infections. 4 admitted to hospital.
Do we want our children to suffer the same infection rates? If we continue with vaccination and masking as our only safety measures we could be walking down the same path. In the past week there has been 34 infections in people under the age of 20 in our province and that number is expected to climb in coming days.
This is concerning to many Newfoundland and Labrador residents because we currently have no isolation rules for vaccinated travelers or their children under 12, and there has been a noticeable increase in "Breakthrough Cases", which are infections that occur in individuals that are fully vaccinated.
Newfoundland and Labrador, under the leadership of Dr Janice Fitzgerald and Dr John Haggie, set the bar for safety in dealing with this pandemic, so we are asking that they return to form and reinstate public safety measures to the level that we gained success with during the last school year, so that our children and general public does not see infections on a mass scale.
"The additional measures that are in place in schools — cohorting, screening, dismissals, masking — those are all going to still be critical."- Dr. Lawrence Loh, the medical officer of health for Ontario's Peel region. Link 1
In the past, when outbreaks occurred in the province, safety measures acted to limit spread and lessen the impact on the day to day running of the province, and outbreaks were limited and localized with minimal hospitalizations and deaths, but at that time, the Delta Variant was not the dominant version of Covid-19.
Also concerning is that based on the current population and the percentage of vaccinated residents, approximately 71,000 residents over 12 have no vaccinations at all, in addition to the children under 12, and those who are not able to be vaccinated for medical reasons, we are left with approximately 112,000 residents with zero protection from the virus.
38,000 kids in our province have ZERO protection from Delta Variant and the notion that "kids do better with covid" is being quickly disproven by the real time data out of the United States which saw their pediatric hospitals overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of children infected and or sent to the hospital. Regardless of immediate infection symptoms the prevalence of Long Covid in children is believed to be anywhere from 10%-50%, which is now being recognized as a potential disability.
We should not risk this in any of our citizens, and especially not our children.
Consider those numbers, consider the increased contagiousness of the Delta Variant, consider the level of measures we have in place, and then ask yourself if you feel our communities and schools will be safe during this 4th wave? “Instead of infecting two or three people, each infected person now infects between six and seven people," Althoff said. - Dr. Keri Althoff is an epidemiologist with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Link 2
Newfoundland and Labrador was successful because of the measures that were in place. Vaccine is not enough to maintain that level of safety, the vaccines are the best chance we have at a return to normal but with so many people unvaccinated, we have a long way to go before this pandemic is over.
Our province suffered outbreaks with the measures in place, and that was before the Delta Variant emerged. Imagine if the Delta Variant entered a school, or a restaurant, or a packed bar, or a concert, or a sports tournament, with no measures in place to slow the spread.
This province needs to get back to being the Gold Standard of safety and precaution. Summer is almost over, and we can not ignore the world around us. Cases are rising all over the country, it is only a matter of time before they reach out shores. Why would we make it easier for this virus to cause damage to the good people of this province? Why would we risk our kids?
Breakthrough cases can happen, and if they do, there will be nothing to stop the virus from spreading unchecked.
Will our kids and unvaccinated adults simply "luck out", and avoid the the Delta Variant when cases emerge? With increased opportunities all over the Province, this virus will not fail, unless we do something about it. What can we do? The same things we did that worked in the past. Masking, distancing, crowd limits, cohorts in schools, masks in schools, strict rules for staying home when sick at work or school, and a sense of heightened general cautiousness, are what we can do.
In addition, Sauvé said, it's critical to keep up other public health measures, such as wearing masks indoors, especially where community transmission is high. - Dr. Laura Sauvé, chair of the Canadian Paediatric Society's infectious diseases committee. Link 1
Many people dropped those public health measures in the areas of the U.S. now being hard-hit, said Kimberlin. "[We've] ... got to go back to the same kinds of things we don't like — and that's wearing masks and trying to distance from one another and doing the kinds of things that we were so familiar with in the wintertime and last year," he said. - Dr. David Kimberlin, with the Children's Hospital of Alabama and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Link 1
When Covid first emerged we in Canada felt that "we wont get as bad as the states" but many of our provinces did so we have to learn from our mistakes and take even more caution this time around. Many provinces are in deep trouble and we are seemingly taking the same path they did, but we do not have to.
Our kids deserve more safety for schools and their school year, our vulnerable deserve more safety in public, and our undecided need more time to consider vaccine.
Dr Fitzgerald, Dr Haggie, Premier Furey, please reinstate the measures that kept this province safe from the start of this "marathon" that is nowhere near over.
If you have concerns that you wish to share with our leadership here are their contacts:
Premier Andrew Furey: andrewfurey2020@gmail.com (709) 635-0132 Also on FB
Health Minister Dr John Haggie: johnhaggie@gov.nl.ca (709) 729-3124 Also on FB
Dr Janice Fitzgerald: (709) 729-3019 Also on Twitter
Also contact your local MHA to express concerns you may have about safety in regards to the level of measures currently in the province.
News Stories about the surge of Delta Variant and Child infections.
1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-delta-variant-children-teens-us-versus-canada-1.6139379
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/14/us-sees-record-number-of-children-in-hospital-with-covid
https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/nawaz-the-fourth-wave-will-be-kids
234
The Issue
Newfoundland and Labrador has minimal measures in place to protect our kids under 12, our medically vulnerable, and those who do not have vaccine yet. We need measures back to start the school year. Why are we risking the safety of our children and our province as a whole?
Sign this petition if you feel we should bring back, testing on entry, isolation on entry, cohorts in schools, and the other safety measures that kept us safe during the first year and a half of the pandemic. Delta is more contagious, we need more protection against it, not less.
With Delta Variant cases rising all over the country, we need measures put back in place to protect our entire province. Vaccination is one piece of the fight against Covid-19 and the Delta Variant, but it has to be paired with safety measures that stop, and or slow the spread of the virus should it reach our province. Without measures we are wide open.
“This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020, NL has been a global leader in safety precautions and proactive safety measures, which led to the province enjoying great success in terms of infection totals, hospitalizations, and deaths related to Covid-19 and Variants.
Since the beginning of the summer, the province has been dialing back safety measures under the direction of CMHO Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr Janice Fitzgerald.
At the time of the reduction of measures, Covid-19 cases across Canada were in decline and our country was at a point where Vaccines were slowing the spread of the virus, and as a result, case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths were at levels that provided many provincial leaders with the data to relax measures in time for summer.
This positive turn was short lived however as case numbers began to rise first in British Colombia to a point where they had to reintroduce mask mandates in many areas after having ended those mandates weeks before based on vaccination percentages.
Currently Alberta, British Colombia and Saskatchewan, are seeing case surges that are very troubling as they are pushing their healthcare systems to the brink, and seeing record numbers of youth infections.
The numbers from Alberta this past weekend are that 1639 kids contracted Covid 32% of all cases with infants under 1 yr 29 cases, 1-4 yrs 248, cases 5-9 yrs 575 cases, and 10-19 yrs 787 cases.
In BC, for the week of Sept 9 to Sept 15. Ages 0-4 - 141 infections. Ages 5-11 - 428 infections. Ages 12-17 - 309 infections. 4 admitted to hospital.
Do we want our children to suffer the same infection rates? If we continue with vaccination and masking as our only safety measures we could be walking down the same path. In the past week there has been 34 infections in people under the age of 20 in our province and that number is expected to climb in coming days.
This is concerning to many Newfoundland and Labrador residents because we currently have no isolation rules for vaccinated travelers or their children under 12, and there has been a noticeable increase in "Breakthrough Cases", which are infections that occur in individuals that are fully vaccinated.
Newfoundland and Labrador, under the leadership of Dr Janice Fitzgerald and Dr John Haggie, set the bar for safety in dealing with this pandemic, so we are asking that they return to form and reinstate public safety measures to the level that we gained success with during the last school year, so that our children and general public does not see infections on a mass scale.
"The additional measures that are in place in schools — cohorting, screening, dismissals, masking — those are all going to still be critical."- Dr. Lawrence Loh, the medical officer of health for Ontario's Peel region. Link 1
In the past, when outbreaks occurred in the province, safety measures acted to limit spread and lessen the impact on the day to day running of the province, and outbreaks were limited and localized with minimal hospitalizations and deaths, but at that time, the Delta Variant was not the dominant version of Covid-19.
Also concerning is that based on the current population and the percentage of vaccinated residents, approximately 71,000 residents over 12 have no vaccinations at all, in addition to the children under 12, and those who are not able to be vaccinated for medical reasons, we are left with approximately 112,000 residents with zero protection from the virus.
38,000 kids in our province have ZERO protection from Delta Variant and the notion that "kids do better with covid" is being quickly disproven by the real time data out of the United States which saw their pediatric hospitals overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of children infected and or sent to the hospital. Regardless of immediate infection symptoms the prevalence of Long Covid in children is believed to be anywhere from 10%-50%, which is now being recognized as a potential disability.
We should not risk this in any of our citizens, and especially not our children.
Consider those numbers, consider the increased contagiousness of the Delta Variant, consider the level of measures we have in place, and then ask yourself if you feel our communities and schools will be safe during this 4th wave? “Instead of infecting two or three people, each infected person now infects between six and seven people," Althoff said. - Dr. Keri Althoff is an epidemiologist with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Link 2
Newfoundland and Labrador was successful because of the measures that were in place. Vaccine is not enough to maintain that level of safety, the vaccines are the best chance we have at a return to normal but with so many people unvaccinated, we have a long way to go before this pandemic is over.
Our province suffered outbreaks with the measures in place, and that was before the Delta Variant emerged. Imagine if the Delta Variant entered a school, or a restaurant, or a packed bar, or a concert, or a sports tournament, with no measures in place to slow the spread.
This province needs to get back to being the Gold Standard of safety and precaution. Summer is almost over, and we can not ignore the world around us. Cases are rising all over the country, it is only a matter of time before they reach out shores. Why would we make it easier for this virus to cause damage to the good people of this province? Why would we risk our kids?
Breakthrough cases can happen, and if they do, there will be nothing to stop the virus from spreading unchecked.
Will our kids and unvaccinated adults simply "luck out", and avoid the the Delta Variant when cases emerge? With increased opportunities all over the Province, this virus will not fail, unless we do something about it. What can we do? The same things we did that worked in the past. Masking, distancing, crowd limits, cohorts in schools, masks in schools, strict rules for staying home when sick at work or school, and a sense of heightened general cautiousness, are what we can do.
In addition, Sauvé said, it's critical to keep up other public health measures, such as wearing masks indoors, especially where community transmission is high. - Dr. Laura Sauvé, chair of the Canadian Paediatric Society's infectious diseases committee. Link 1
Many people dropped those public health measures in the areas of the U.S. now being hard-hit, said Kimberlin. "[We've] ... got to go back to the same kinds of things we don't like — and that's wearing masks and trying to distance from one another and doing the kinds of things that we were so familiar with in the wintertime and last year," he said. - Dr. David Kimberlin, with the Children's Hospital of Alabama and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Link 1
When Covid first emerged we in Canada felt that "we wont get as bad as the states" but many of our provinces did so we have to learn from our mistakes and take even more caution this time around. Many provinces are in deep trouble and we are seemingly taking the same path they did, but we do not have to.
Our kids deserve more safety for schools and their school year, our vulnerable deserve more safety in public, and our undecided need more time to consider vaccine.
Dr Fitzgerald, Dr Haggie, Premier Furey, please reinstate the measures that kept this province safe from the start of this "marathon" that is nowhere near over.
If you have concerns that you wish to share with our leadership here are their contacts:
Premier Andrew Furey: andrewfurey2020@gmail.com (709) 635-0132 Also on FB
Health Minister Dr John Haggie: johnhaggie@gov.nl.ca (709) 729-3124 Also on FB
Dr Janice Fitzgerald: (709) 729-3019 Also on Twitter
Also contact your local MHA to express concerns you may have about safety in regards to the level of measures currently in the province.
News Stories about the surge of Delta Variant and Child infections.
1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-delta-variant-children-teens-us-versus-canada-1.6139379
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/14/us-sees-record-number-of-children-in-hospital-with-covid
https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/nawaz-the-fourth-wave-will-be-kids
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Petition created on August 17, 2021