‘Province-Wide Shutdown’ In Nova Scotia As Ottawa Sends Military Help
HALIFAX — Premier Iain Rankin announced a “province-wide shutdown” on April 27 as Nova Scotia recorded close to 100 positive Covid-19 cases in one day.
The “circuit breaker” will see almost all indoor activities, gatherings, schools, and most retail operations in the province shut down for at least two weeks.
The measures will come into effect at 8 a.m. April 28. They come on the heels of border closures and a round of slightly less harsh measures announced just days earlier.
Rankin said the stricter rules are necessary because mutated variants of the Covid-19 virus are “spreading rapidly through the province.”
“Covid variants require us to act faster, be firmer, and have a broader reach,” added Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health.
Those faster, firmer, broader restrictions mean all gatherings, both indoors and outdoors, must be shut down. That means no faith gatherings, funeral or wedding receptions, sports events, arts and cultural events, or others.
A few outdoor activities, such as tennis courts, golf courses, and parks, can remain open.
Meanwhile, schools will close but childcare centers will remain open, in part to support essential workers who need a place to send their kids.
Most retail operations must also shut down unless they are providing an essential service or selling essential items.
Strang said essential items and services include:
- food
- pharmaceutical and medical devices
- personal hygiene products
- cleaning products
- baby products
- garages
- computer and electronic supplies
- hardware
- pet supplies
Businesses offering those products or services can remain open at 25 percent capacity and must follow strict Covid-19 protocols. Other businesses can remain open only for delivery or curbside pickup.
Restaurants can also stay open for delivery and curbside pickup. A complete rundown of all Covid-19 measures in the province is available here.
“I know there’s going to be an impact on businesses now across the province,” Rankin said. “We’re fully aware that we’ll need to step up and support them.”
He said the government has been working “around the clock” and that he will have more details about what support will look like “later this week.”
“It’s going to impact people, we know that, we take this very seriously and that’s why we’ll be there to support them with the small business impact grant and …other opportunities to make sure they’re not as impacted as they would be,” Rankin said.
As Nova Scotia puts the measures in place the province is also administering a record number of Covid-19 vaccines.
Strang said officials tested about 20,000 Nova Scotians April 26, smashing records for single-day testing.
He said it’s encouraging that so many people want to be tested but said that demand has created “some capacity challenges” in parts of the province.
To help with those challenges, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today he is sending 60 members of the Canadian Armed Forces to help at assessment centres.
“The high testing that we’re doing… we want to keep that up. So those 60 individuals will be focused on that testing and allow us to continue that growth of capacity of testing,” Rankin said.
April 27, Nova Scotia recorded 96 new Covid-19 cases. It’s the most cases ever recorded in the province in a single day and brings the total number of cases in the province to 419.
Eleven people in the province are in hospital, including three in intensive care.