Tag: COVID-19

Is New Brunswick showing Nova Scotia what not to do?

Is New Brunswick showing Nova Scotia what not to do?

Posted by | Aug 29, 2021 | |

It’s not every day that decision-makers can observe the wisdom of their choices in real time. But that’s what Nova Scotia health officials (and by extension the outgoing provincial government) can do by looking northwest to New Brunswick. Back in July, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were following the same cautious COVID-19 public health guidelines, to stay in effect until 75 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. But on July 23, New Brunswick changed course, announcing that the province would “go Green” on July 30, well short of that vaccination target. Under the Green phase of its...

Read More
Pandemic election 2: Bad news. Not so bad news. Worse to come?

Pandemic election 2: Bad news. Not so bad news. Worse to come?

Posted by | Aug 24, 2021 | |

There was bad news and not so bad news for the Liberals after week one of the pandemic campaign – the election no one except the Trudeau party much wanted. The bad news for the Liberals has them going down in the polls and COVID-19 cases going up. The less bad news is that the rate of increase in COVID cases last week was not as high as the week before. Table 1:Change in Active case numbers selected dates Aug. 8 Aug. 15 Aug. 23 8-15 increase 15-23 increase 10,307 17,025 24,234 65.2% 42.3% Source: Health Infobase While the...

Read More
The pandemic election campaign: some baseline numbers

The pandemic election campaign: some baseline numbers

Posted by | Aug 17, 2021 | |

As Canada heads into a federal election campaign under a pandemic cloud, COVID-19 statistics will be watched as closely as public opinion poll numbers and the dollar signs on election promises. What follows are some baseline numbers to assist in keeping tabs on what’s being billed as the first pandemic federal election campaign in our history. Experts say that Canada has entered a fourth wave of the pandemic. Active case numbers have been on the rise over the last three weeks, but at just over 17,000 they are a long way from matching those reached in the third wave....

Read More
Update on vaccine nationalism: It’s time to think globally

Update on vaccine nationalism: It’s time to think globally

Posted by | May 27, 2021 | , |

Three months ago, as discussed here the media and political worlds were in a flap about Canada’s snail’s-pace COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Some claimed that we were well back in the pack, with as many as 51 other countries vaccinating at a faster rate. At best, according to the oft-cited Our World In Data, Canada was 17th, well behind leading countries Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S. and the UK. Particular umbrage was taken about the fact Canada trailed such unlikely places as Chile, Serbia, Romania, Poland and Morocco. And among rich countries, self-identified as the G7, Canada was second...

Read More
Pandemic Update: Positive case numbers overshadow last month’s record death total

Pandemic Update: Positive case numbers overshadow last month’s record death total

Posted by | Feb 4, 2021 | |

With all of the dire reporting on COVID-19 variants and vaccine interruptions it’s hard to find anything positive in the pandemic chronicles. But here’s something. In the month of January, Canada registered the smallest percentage increase in cumulative cases since September. These are the latest numbers to the end of January, which may vary slightly from earlier updates.  Table 1. Monthly increases in COVID-19 cases Month Increase % increase Sept. 31,110 24.0% Oct. 76,306 47.5% Nov. 146,627 61.9% Dec. 199,229 51.9% Jan. 200,892 34.4% Source: Worldometer As the table shows, while the number of cases in January was slightly...

Read More

Richard Starr, The man behind the Point

About Richard

RICHARD STARR has had careers as a journalist, public servant, broadcaster, political staffer and freelance policy adviser. He is author of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, a former radio and TV producer and weekly newspaper editor, and the author of three non-fiction books. Starr has lived in Dartmouth for more than 30 years.

Subscribe to Starr’s Point

Support Provided by