Premier To Partiers: ‘What Is Wrong With You?’
HALIFAX — As Covid-19 cases hit record highs in Nova Scotia on May 3, Premier Iain Rankin scolded “selfish” citizens for not following public health orders, using harsher-than-usual language.
On Monday, the province reported 146 new Covid-19 cases, the majority in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The puts the province at a total of 943 active Covid-19 cases.
More than 40 people are in hospital related to the illness, and eight are in the ICU. The average age of people in hospital is between 40 and 60.
“We’re admitting younger and healthier people and they’re coming in sicker,” Rankin said. “And that’s because of the variants: they’re more aggressive, they move faster, attack and make you sicker.”
Rankin said despite the severity of the new variants people still aren’t following public health restrictions. Over the weekend, 37 people in the HRM were fined for flouting public health rules, a number Rankin called “outrageous.”
He went on to address those people not following the rules.
“I have a serious question: what is wrong with you? How come you don’t take this as serious as you should?” the premier asked.
He urged people to research the so-called “UK variant” of Covid-19 and see the devastating effect it’s having on other regions.
“This variant is no joke. It’s killing people, it’s putting young people in the ICU,” Rankin said.
That variant, he said, is the one rule-breakers are likely to catch. They can then easily spread that to their friends, loved ones, co-workers, and others.
“What part of that pattern of spread do you not understand? The only answer that I can come up with is that you don’t care,” Rankin said.
He finished with a plea: “Please, please stop socializing and partying.”
When asked if he would change the province’s enforcement strategy to ensure Nova Scotians take public health rules more seriously, the premier hedged slightly.
He said he will continue to take advice about compliance and enforcement measures, but said the province is “not going to fine our way out of this situation.”
“I just want to make sure our population understands the seriousness of this issue. Don’t get me wrong, most Nova Scotians do [take measures seriously] and attributed to our success is strong cooperation with the restrictions. But there are a select few who either don’t care or don’t get it,” Rankin said.
Rankin said he doesn’t want to get to the point where he’s enforcing harsher penalties for people breaking public health rules.
“But I will do what I have to do to make people listen,” he said.