Measles outbreak in Nova Scotia rises to 35 cases
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CTV News
17 minutes ago
- CTV News
Low-income renters press governments for ways to cool apartments in heat waves
Sandra Walsh sits next to an open window in her kitchen as a fan circulates air throughout her rental apartment in New Glasgow, N.S. on Friday, August 1, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese) HALIFAX — Sandra Walsh was struggling to breathe in her apartment when temperatures across Nova Scotia soared in July, but the woman on social assistance says her pleas for a government-funded air conditioner have been ignored. 'With the high humidity, it effects my breathing and I have to gasp for air,' says the 46-year-old woman, recently diagnosed with a progressive lung disease. 'Even taking frequent, cold showers isn't really helping.' The resident of New Glasgow, N.S., is among many low-income Canadians with health conditions struggling to get government help to stay cool. She wants to buy a $300 air conditioner, but that would leave her with little money for food or medications. As of Wednesday, Walsh said it had been more than two months since she asked her income assistance caseworker for money to pay for an air conditioner. She said she has made the same request every summer since 2020, but has been refused. Similar struggles over what advocates call the 'right to cooling' are gaining attention across the country. Renters' groups argue AC units are sometimes required to prevent illness and death, and some experts are calling for wider solutions that could include public cooling centres. Last year, another resident of New Glasgow, Julie Leggett, won an appeal before an adjudicator who decided the province had to pay for air conditioner due to her chronic pain condition. But the ruling only applies to Leggett. Nova Scotia's Department of Social Development said in a recent statement its policy of refusing to cover the cost of air conditioners for low-income people with health conditions has not changed. 'In situations where health risks are worsened by extreme heat, caseworkers may refer individuals to local charities such as St. Vincent de Paul or churches,' a spokeswoman for the department said in an email. Meanwhile, the province says Efficiency Nova Scotia -- a non-profit energy conservation utility -- can help landlords purchase heat pumps for affordable housing. Leggett says these solutions aren't always available to people living in poverty. 'The province should not be trying to push its legal obligations onto non-profits that are already maxed out,' she wrote in an email. In Ottawa, where temperatures soared in mid-July, 75-year-old apartment dweller Marie Lourdes Garnier said provincial governments should be helping low-income renters purchase air conditioners. She said her apartment was stifling during a recent heat wave, adding that in recent weeks she's found herself growing faint despite continually splashing cold water on her head. A spokesperson for the Ontario government said people on income assistance can apply for an air conditioner when municipal or First Nations programs permit it. In addition, people with disabilities can apply through the Ontario Disabilities Support Program. And the City of Toronto recently started offering a pilot program for low-income seniors. Garnier, who lives on a small pension, isn't eligible for these programs because she is not receiving income assistance. 'It's very, very expensive for me ... (and) I'm not talking about (needing an AC unit) for comfort. It's a matter of life and death.' Last year, an advocacy group for low-income renters known as ACORN found that a 'negligible proportion' of its membership received public funds to buy an air conditioner or heat pump. A majority of the 737 people who responded to a survey reported poor sleep, fatigue and headaches from excessive indoor heat. In Moncton, N.B., Peter Jongeneelen -- vice chair of ACORN New Brunswick -- said that during a recent heat wave, he was admitted to an ER because he was suffering from heat exhaustion. He said people living on disability pensions need help, '(but) there's no real programs out there in New Brunswick. It's something we would like to change.' Meanwhile, the number of people showing up at emergency rooms with heat-related problems continues to rise. Last month, Health Canada reported this type of case rose from about 600 in 2004 to about 1,100 in 2023. In British Columbia, where a 'heat dome' in the summer of 2021 caused 600 deaths, the province committed $30 million in 2023 for a free air conditioner program run by BC Hydro. Since then, about 27,500 free AC units have been installed, the utility said. Still, University of British Columbia researcher Liv Yoon says the program has faced challenges. Some landlords, for example, have said their buildings simply can't support air conditioning. Yoon, co-author of a report titled 'A Right to Cool,' said there's a need for public cooling centres and access to free public transit to reach them. The report also calls for creation of affordable housing that includes passive shade systems to reduce indoor heat. Alex Boston, a B.C.-based urban planner and consultant, said air conditioners may be necessary for some low-income renters, but other solutions are often available. Indoor temperatures can be lowered by using window shades and fans, he said in an interview. Simple shading and air movement can decrease indoor temperatures by as much as 10 C, he said. In New Glasgow, Walsh said shades and fans might help. 'But a refusal (of assistance) would mean I would suffer and not be able to breath with the extreme heat, which can lead to death,' she said. By Michael Tutton This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025.
Edmonton Journal
7 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Opinion: A rash of bad judgment
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Alberta has surpassed 1,600 cases of measles as of the end of July. Photo by Natalya Maisheva / Getty Images file photo The measles outbreak continues to expand in Alberta. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors As of July 30, 1,618 cases of measles had been reported in the province amid the worst outbreak in almost 50 years, far surpassing the 1986 peak of 843 cases. We're not alone. Ontario has reported almost 2,300 cases since October of last year. And there are multiple outbreaks in the U.S., the largest of which straddles Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. But Alberta stands out as having the highest per-capita rate of measles in all of North America. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again There has long been ready access to a measles vaccine (administered as MMR — measles, mumps and rubella inoculations), which has been shown time and again to be safe and highly effective. Yet, most measles cases are occurring in individuals who are not immunized (more than three-quarters of them children). The knee-jerk response to this situation, perhaps, as a pediatrician, is one of indignation: How can people be so ignorant? But is that justified? Are people really being 'ignorant'? Because what's the big deal? Isn't measles just a routine childhood illness, characterized by a fever, cough and runny nose, followed by a funky rash that fades in less than a week? There's a lot of truth to that. But it's not the whole truth. The illness isn't nearly as scary as polio or smallpox, which carry case fatality rates of up to five per cent and 30 per cent respectively (measles, by comparison, typically has a case fatality rate of 0.1 to 0.3 per cent). But that doesn't mean it's benign for everyone. While there have been no deaths in Alberta during this outbreak, 128 individuals required hospitalization as of July 19, 15 of them requiring intensive care. In Ontario, an infant recently died of measles-related illness; and two children have succumbed to complications of measles in Texas. And measles causes 'immune amnesia,' which can last months to years and renders patients more susceptible to other infections. Add in the rare, delayed (typically by six to 10 years) brain-destroying cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, and those 'measles parties' of yore don't look so benign. It's useful to review past outbreaks. During the 1989 to 1991 explosion of cases in the U.S., more than 55,000 cases were reported and more than 130 people died, the majority of them preschool-aged children; California was particularly hard hit, with 35 deaths of infants under one year of age. This advertisement has not loaded yet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. If you zoom out further, more than 107,000 people died globally from measles in 2023, according to the World Health Organization — most of them children under five years of age. It's true that most of those deaths occurred among unvaccinated populations with inferior nutrition, poor access to health care, and hygiene and living conditions far below what we enjoy. But the current outbreaks in Canada and the U.S. highlight the fact that measles is more than 'just a rash.' So why the reluctance to immunize? Part of the reason is erosion of trust. Measles is not polio and it's not smallpox; but persistent public health messaging emphasizing the potential for serious harms from the virus can make it seem like it is. And people, jaded and suspicious after a COVID pandemic that damaged trust in health pronouncements, are weary of what they perceive as hyperbole. They know that measles isn't polio and that most kids who get it will be fine; and measles messaging on the part of health-care leaders can come across as fearmongering. Arresting the spread of measles, given how contagious it is, requires immunization rates of close to 95 per cent — and we've dropped significantly below that in many jurisdictions. That's due to a rash of poor judgment on both sides: on the part of public health — in overhyping the risks of measles — and on the side of vaccine-hesitant folks, in being all-too-willing to swallow what vaccine skeptics are peddling. I hope, for all our sakes, that the rash of bad judgment soon fades away. J. Edward Les is a pediatric emergency physician at Alberta Children's Hospital, and clinical assistant professor at Cumming School of Medicine.
Calgary Herald
9 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Opinion: A rash of bad judgment
Article content As of July 30, 1,618 cases of measles had been reported in the province amid the worst outbreak in almost 50 years, far surpassing the 1986 peak of 843 cases. Article content Article content We're not alone. Ontario has reported almost 2,300 cases since October of last year. And there are multiple outbreaks in the U.S., the largest of which straddles Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Article content Article content Article content There has long been ready access to a measles vaccine (administered as MMR — measles, mumps and rubella inoculations), which has been shown time and again to be safe and highly effective. Yet, most measles cases are occurring in individuals who are not immunized (more than three-quarters of them children). Article content The knee-jerk response to this situation, perhaps, as a pediatrician, is one of indignation: How can people be so ignorant? But is that justified? Are people really being 'ignorant'? Because what's the big deal? Isn't measles just a routine childhood illness, characterized by a fever, cough and runny nose, followed by a funky rash that fades in less than a week? Article content There's a lot of truth to that. But it's not the whole truth. The illness isn't nearly as scary as polio or smallpox, which carry case fatality rates of up to five per cent and 30 per cent respectively (measles, by comparison, typically has a case fatality rate of 0.1 to 0.3 per cent). Article content Article content But that doesn't mean it's benign for everyone. While there have been no deaths in Alberta during this outbreak, 128 individuals required hospitalization as of July 19, 15 of them requiring intensive care. In Ontario, an infant recently died of measles-related illness; and two children have succumbed to complications of measles in Texas. Article content And measles causes 'immune amnesia,' which can last months to years and renders patients more susceptible to other infections. Add in the rare, delayed (typically by six to 10 years) brain-destroying cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, and those 'measles parties' of yore don't look so benign. Article content It's useful to review past outbreaks. During the 1989 to 1991 explosion of cases in the U.S., more than 55,000 cases were reported and more than 130 people died, the majority of them preschool-aged children; California was particularly hard hit, with 35 deaths of infants under one year of age.
