I wasn’t surprised to see that Robert Strang, who used his whimsical neckties to lighten the mood during the COVID pandemic, had carefully chosen the neckwear he wore to One Government Place on Tuesday.  

Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health had a solemn message: The first case of measles had been reported in Nova Scotia — an adult who had returned to Halifax after travelling to the United States. 

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“We are not surprised by this given the North American and global and the whole situation around measles,” he said. “We have been expecting this and have been preparing, working across the health system.” 

For all those reassuring words, his necktie, in my view, was worth noting.  

It was blue and emblazoned with mathematical formulas, some well-known, others unrecognizable for someone with high school math like me. 

Strang, a lover of the old Monty Python skits, has a thing for sly wit. So, I take those equations to mean one thing: Put your trust in science. You know, vaccines. 

“Measles vaccines are safe, effective and have been protecting us for decades,” Strang pointed out.  

You would think it unnecessary to say so, except the good doctor knows better.  

The World Health Organization last week revealed that between Jan. 1 and April 12 this year, Canada reported 1,069 confirmed and probable measles cases, compared to 177 reported in all of 2024, which had been the highest annual case count since the disease had been eliminated here in 1998. 

This is worrisome news because measles, as the WHO points out, “is a highly contagious, airborne viral disease that can lead to severe complications and death.” 

So far there hasn’t been a single measles-related death in Canada. That is no reason for complacency.  

As colleague........

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