Thread by @firebethfox

Thread: I see some in other provinces talking about #NovaScotia rapid test kits coming home for elementary kids. There’s been comparisons about other places and why Gov’s did or did not do this. A few points about this whole thing we shouldn’t forget 1/ novascotia.ca/news/release/?…

The effort has been spearheaded by some excellent folks who are outside of gov. It started with local university during our 2nd wave that was hitting restaurant/bar crowd in Halifax. They were testing to see if rapid testing could help stop spread. 2/
dal.ca/news/2020/11/2…

The success and the leadership of @LisaBarrettID et all. meant that our public health officials could do their thing. But they also stayed out of the way and let community lead the pop ups as they grew. This meant no additional strain on pub resources. /3

nationalpost.com/news/politics/…

Not everyone could WFH so 1000s of people across #NovaScotia came out to volunteer. I met retired folx, uni students, people of all kinds. We all just gave time to help keep our communities safer and catch asymptotic cases before they became outbreaks. /4

atlantic.ctvnews.ca/we-want-your-n…

Just as our 3rd wave hit I remember three +ve tests in < 1 hour at a pop up… which was a lot! A few days later #Halifax was staying at home and to slow community spread. We crushed that wave faster than almost anywhere. about a month of hard measures /5

halifaxtoday.ca/coronavirus-co…

Remember. These pop ups were largely possible because of volunteers who were organized by doctors from DLA medicine and one private testing company. They had the support of public officials to keep doing what they were doing. It made me proud to see the can do/ get it done /6

So many students from our universities have been working non stop. Some going out to bars and places where there’s been more risk of spread. Recently they had a brilliant double kit with covid test and condoms. They spent Saturday night keeping it fun and safe! /7

And last week the group behind #TestToProtect asked for volunteers help to create 300,000 take home kits. At the time I was hoping they’d be for kids in community too young to get vaxxed. I had just used one of these kits when my kid caught a cold. /8

cbc.ca/news/canada/no…

It’s been amazing to be part of this. In the 3rd wave it helped my mental health to feel less helpless, to see youth leading community, to know what’s possible when we act as community instead of self interested individuals. I’m looking forward to helping build kits on Fri /9

When peeps in other places say “our gov should have done what NS did” they need to know that our gov supported & encouraged our asymptotic rapid testing program. But they didn’t build it or deliver it. They most importantly got out of the way and trusted community efforts. end/10

Proud as I am to be a public servant I share because this is a case study in what’s possible when we’re inclusive & let solutions come from community. When we see our communities as partners vs “constituents”. Service *with* not for/to. It builds trust & makes us stronger. /bonus