PoP Nova Scotia

Clean Air in Schools Letter [YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS] Honourable Tim Houston Office of the Premier7th Floor, One Government Place1700 Granville StreetHalifax, NS B3J 1X5 Dear Premier Houston, Over the last five years, we’ve...

Nova Scotia MLAs are back in the Legislature next week!

Use this letter template to tell the Premier (premier@novascotia.ca), Your MLA (nslegislature.ca/members/prof...), and the Minister of Ed (educmin@novascotia.ca) that NS needs clean indoor air to reduce illness in schools.

Red broken heart graphic on a navy blue background. The text overlay on the heart reads: "Long Covid is heartbreaking because...my child doesn’t have the energy to go to school." Above the heart, highlighted text reads: "Caregivers: Share your Long Covid experience." In the bottom right of the graphic is a teal bubble; inside, the text reads "your experience here" with an arrow pointing to the heart.

This year for Long Covid Awareness Month, we’re highlighting the impact of Covid on the heart & cardiovascular system. But #LongCovid impacts people in many different ways, so we want to feature all sorts of experiences—including those of caregivers—with an instantly recognizable broken heart.
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Share Your Long Covid Experience - Canadian Covid Society We Want People to See the Heartbreaking Impact of Long Covid Long Covid has changed so many people’s lives. Relationships have been affected. Many people have had to leave their careers, or had their…

We’ll be sharing patient and caregiver experiences in a statement-making public awareness project at our International Long Covid Awareness Day events on March 15th.

Submit your experience here:
covidsociety.ca/priorities/l...
#LongCovid
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Show some love for clean air and use this template to send a letter to the NS Premier, your MLA, and the Minister of Ed today!

On Feb. 23, the NS Legislature is back in session. Let them know that it's time to get serious about infection control in schools.

I choo-choo-choose to protect you from long Covid. A Valentine with a train wearing an n 95 mask and hearts are coming out the smoke stack.

Breaking the chain of transmission shows a lot of love.

Anyone -adults and children- can be debilitated by Covid, even well after the acute phase (initial symptoms), which is why Long Covid has been referred to as a mass-disabling event.

"Stop breaking my heart... by ending the chain of transmission." A valentine with an illustration of a red broken heart in the middle. An n 95 mask is in the right corner.

Inaction on the part of governments, medical communities, and the public has left us broken hearted.

And Covid infections leave people with physiologically broken hearts.

Show some love for clean air and use this template to send a letter to the NS Premier, your MLA, and the Minister of Ed today!

On Feb. 23, the NS Legislature is back in session. Let them know that it's time to get serious about infection control in schools.

Roses are red, Violets are blue, I'm wearing a mask ‘Cause I care about you A red valentine with two n 95 masks and a number of pink hearts.

Love isn't seasonal and neither is Covid.

You can show people you care by wearing a well-fitted mask and protecting them from infection that could result in long-term, debilitating symptoms.

A valentine with candy hearts, the largest purple heart in the center reads "Masks r love"

It's very sweet to protect each other.

A well-fitted mask can keep others safe from many airborne illnesses including Covid, flu, RSV, strep, measles, and tuberculosis.

I knew I loved you when...You rescheduled our date because you were sick and wanted to protect me

I knew I loved you when...You told me you wanted to use protection

I knew I loved you when...You wore a mask on our date

I knew I loved you when... You used a thermometer to cook our dinner to a safe internal temperature

Looking for a Valentine for that special someone? We made you a few to choose from. We can’t tell you who to love, but we think these are all green flags.

If you're tired of perpetual illness, please send a letter to your NS MLA & the Minister of Ed. We could improve everyone's standard of living if we took indoor air quality seriously.

You can find your MLAs email address here: nslegislature.ca/members/prof...

Nova Scotia students, families, teachers, and staff deserve good health.

The province must:
❗improve indoor air quality by implementing international standards (ASHRAE 241) to decrease the spread of pathogens
❗monitor CO2 levels
❗improve school absence reporting

Health Schools Letter [YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS] Honourable Tim Houston Office of the Premier7th Floor, One Government Place1700 Granville StreetHalifax, NS B3J 1X5 Dear Premier Houston, Over the last five years, we’ve...

New Brunswick commited to monitoring & improving gov. building ventilation, including schools. Why hasn't Nova Scotia done the same?

Use this template to send a letter to the Premier (premier@novascotia.ca), your MLA (nslegislature.ca/members/prof...), and the Minister of Ed (educmin@novascotia.ca)

@claudiachenderns.bsky.social This is how it’s done! Please consider pushing for better air quality in schools.

Why covid-19 is “a vascular disease masquerading as a respiratory one” Covid-19 is not just a respiratory infection. Cardiovascular symptoms are seen in both acute and long covid. Katharine Lang reports on what we’ve learnt since the onset of the pandemic Cardiovascular...

February 2026 - the BMJ publishes a piece called "Why covid-19 is “a vascular disease masquerading as a respiratory one”

Some of us have been screaming this for years

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

It’s been a pretty good week-or-so. ☺️

ASHRAE 241 for all new GNB buildings, including schools.

Then-current ASHRAE 62.1 for retrofits.

CO2 monitoring in all schools by June.

Snapshots of the unseen: How we focused Long COVID in a recent photo exhibition

Snapshots of the unseen: How we focused Long COVID in a recent photo exhibition

The Sick Times
February 2, 2026
By Kayli Jamieson

stillcoviding.ca/en/news/snap...

#COVID #LongCovid #CovidIsNotOver

Way to go NB! #IAQ #cleanair

"The NSTU has long advocated for smaller class sizes, but Day says it could be a major help in reducing violence in schools. "

Yes! Smaller classes! And it would help if children weren't always sick. The Dept. of Ed still hasn't put the rise of violence into the context of the pandemic.

This image describes the Canadian COVID Forecast for the fourteen-day period between Jan 31 - Feb 13, 2026, which is produced by COVID-19 Resources Canada. Nova Scotia's COVID Forecast outlook is VERY HIGH [no change] with a COVID INDEX SCORE of 10.4 About 1 of every 149 people is infected. Estimated infections this week: 7,800-9,900 What these numbers mean: MODERATE 1-5, HIGH 5-10, VERY HIGH 10-15, SEVERE >15 COMPARED TO THE LOWEST POINT IN THE COVID PANDEMIC IN CANADA How much higher are key indicators compared to the lowest point in the COVID pandemic in Canada? Waste water, infections: VERY HIGH; 10.7X higher Long COVID: HIGH; 6.4X higher Hospitalizations: HIGH; 9.5X higher Deaths: VERY HIGH; 11.1X higher HOW TO HELP: EVERYONE: UPDATE vaccines every 6 months WEAR N95-type masks AVOID indoor social gatherings AVOID crowded non-essential places Who is HIGH RISK? People 60 and older, babies < 1 year, pregnant ALL AGES: immunocompromised OR medically at-risk OR no vaccine or infection in the last 6 months Recommendations are based on the COVID-19 Risk Index from the Peterborough ON Public Health Unit COVID-19 Resources Canada is a grassroots organization of volunteer scientists supporting Canadian COVID responses. Sources, data and methods for the COVID Index are available at www.Covid19Resources.ca

Canadian COVID Forecast Jan 31 - Feb 13, 2026

NOVA SCOTIA

VERY HIGH [no change]

About 1 of every 149 people is infected.

Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada:

-Infections: 10.7 x higher
-Long COVID: 6.4 x higher
-Hospitalizations: 9.5 x higher
-Deaths: 11.1 x higher

We're a bit delayed with the forecast.

Please check back tomorrow for an update.

They could not find any evidence of TB transmission when healthcare workers wore N95 respirators!
Hmmm…..🤔 what does that teach us????

HI all,
Files from the #C19RC Testing Methods and Tools meeting are now available:  drive.google.com/drive/u/0/fo...

Use the File list to access links to the recording and transcript:  docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Wastewater surveillance reveals hidden COVID spread beyond reported cases As COVID-19 testing becomes less routine, official case numbers can make outbreaks look smaller than they really are.

"Wastewater surveillance reveals hidden COVID spread beyond reported cases"

As COVID testing becomes less routine, case numbers can underestimate outbreaks. Research led by Prof Murakami shows wastewater surveillance reveals hidden spread, offering a clearer view of transmission and early warnings.

These terrific kids' father is actually the founder of PHAN! These kids are so well-informed and so powerful.

We just had a meeting on Saturday wondering what was happening with NB IAQ. Thanks for the update @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social

Some federal guidance on school IAQ would be welcome!

Graphic titles Long term Cardiovascular effects of COVID-19 Infection in Children. the Need for Monitoring. To assess systolic and diastolic cardiac function in children post COVID-19 infection. Methods - population Group 1 Post Covid-19 N=137 bs Group 2 Healthy Controls N=79. Evaluation 3-12 months post COVID-19 infection. Long Covid surgery Echocariography Global longitudinal strain (GLS) lipid profile Serum intracellulat adhesion molecule -1. Results 23.6% in Group 1 reported Long Covid symptoms. GLS post covid-19 group -23.6% to -17.8%. GLS healthy controls group -25% to -20.2%. Take home message Covid-19 may leave silent cardiac footprints in children. Findings of reduced GLS highlight the importance of continued cardiovascular monitoring, even in asymptomatic cases

Highlights Our research focusses on the long-term cardiac effects of COVID-19 and children. Children with a history of COVID-19 infection showed a persistent reduction and left ventricle global longitudinal strain (GLS) indicating subclinical myocardial disfunction despite normal conventional echocardiographic findings. The reduction in GLS was most evident in children with moderate to severe COVID-19 underscoring a severity-dependent relationship between acute infection and post infectious myocardial changes. This subtle but measurable impairment suggests that SARS-Cov-2 may have persisting effects on cardiac function in paediatric patients even in the absence of overt heart disease.

We need to clean the air in all classrooms! #CleanAirForAll #CleanAirInSchools

Relevance of the 2009 Report Entitled Advisory Report for the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia and the National Union of Public and General Employees on Respiratory Protection During Care of Influenza Patients to the Current COVID-19 Situation All of the content of the 2009 report continues to be accurate and consistent with the literature that has been produced from 2009 to date on the subjects of interest. A large amount of research has been conducted in the past decade, which has largely strengthened the analysis and conclusions contained ithe 2009 report. The discussion below elaborates on the reasons for this being the case. The “Controversy” Over Aerosol Transmission As you will appreciate, arguments over the need for and benefit of using N95 or better respiratory protection over SMs are based on views with respect to the relative contribution of aerosol person-toperson transmission in relation to droplet and contact transmission, and the relative effectiveness of both types of airway protection. Aerosol transmission of influenza and coronaviruses is often said to be “controversial”. This seems an odd characterization, as there is a substantial quantity of high-quality research literature that indicates it is plausible and probable. In fact, many authors have gone as far as suggesting that it is likely to be a dominant mode for person-to-person transmission of influenzas6. Juxtaposed against this is a comparatively sparse knowledge base in support of droplet and contact transmission for these particular types of viral infections. My consideration of the literature referenced herein makes it difficult for me to comprehend the basis for any scientific “controversy”. The science strongly points to the likelihood of aerosol transmission of influenza and coronaviruses7 as a significant mode of person-to-person infection. At the same time, many public health authorities persist in discounting aerosol transmission while ascribing to theories of droplet…

This is an important read regarding what Canadian public health officials had been made aware of by subject matter experts as of March 19, 2020. I can see this being significant in legal actions, including Westray prosecutions once the special treatment ends.

Full text: hsabc.org/sites/defaul...

Nova Scotia, we're in a Covid wave. Break the chain of transmission by wearing a well-fitted mask in public spaces. Open the windows, turn on the air purifiers, and stay home if you're sick!