PUGWASH, N.S. — It's an anxious time in Nova Scotia's northern health-care zone, after the news that three people among their most vulnerable residents have died of COVID-19.
Two people in a long-term care facility, and one living in a residential group home, passed away over the past week.
Christal MacKinnon's 90-year-old father lives at East Cumberland Lodge, where two residents have died of COVID-19 in the past week.
She says her father's booster shot has been delayed because of the outbreak.
He tested positive last week, but is asymptomatic so far.
Living far away in Calgary, MacKinnon worries.
"It's a crucial time," she says, "The seven- to 10-day mark is a significant time for when elderly people start showing symptoms."
As of Tuesday, there are 29 residents and 10 staff members at East Cumberland Lodge who have tested positive.
In an update posted on its website, the facility says it is doing COVID-19 retesting of staff and residents every 72 hours, and no visitors are allowed.
About 50 kilometres away in Amherst is where Victoria Harrison died.
Her obituary says the longtime resident of Rupert House, a residential group home in town, died last Wednesday of COVID-19 complications.
Terry Ann Jaguary's 50-year-old sister lives in the same home and has tested negative so far.
"I just want them to be safe, the caretakers, the residents," she says from Okotoks, Alta.
Her sister has lived at Rupert House for the past 30 years.
Jaguary says the home is on lockdown, with her sister staying in her room. Staff bring her meals to her there.
Jaguary does not blame anyone for bringing the virus into the home.
"It just managed to find its way into one and travelled from there," she says.
Health officials have said community spread in the area is due to ongoing transmission from a faith gathering in late October, but will not give any further details.
Last week, the pastor of Gospel Light Baptist Church in Amherst church told CTV by phone the church's multi-day event, billed as the "Bordertown Camp Meeting," held from Oct. 25-29, followed COVID-19 rules for faith services, which don’t require proof of vaccination.
Last week, the province's deputy chief medical officer said Dr. Robert Strang spoke to faith leaders to clarify the rules around gatherings.
Pastor Robert Smith could not be reached to answer questions Tuesday, but he talked about the event and the outbreak in the area during this past Sunday's streamed online service on the Church's Facebook page.
In that sermon, he called the outbreak, "unfortunate."
"But we had a great week of meetings," he tells the congregation from the pulpit. "I'm not ashamed because I did what I know Christ wanted me to do."
The MLA for Cumberland North says she's not focusing on how the outbreak began, but rather how to stop the spread of COVID-19.
"I don't think naming and shaming people is helpful right now," says Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin from her constituency office in Amherst, N.S.
Instead, she's calling for quicker access to vaccinations after recently learning the next available appointments in the Amherst area aren't until mid-December.
She also wants more testing to catch positive cases.
"Even if they are asymptomatic and vaccinated, if the come into contact with a positive COVID case, vaccinated or unvaccinated, they should get tested to make sure they are not possibly transmitting the virus."
All family members like Christal MacKinnon and Terry Ann Jaguary can do is wait and worry, in the hope the virus won't claim any more lives.
