N.S. Extends Covid-19 Restrictions Into February
HALIFAX—The Nova Scotia government is extending public health restrictions as the Omicron wave of Covid-19 continues to plague the province.
Premier Tim Houston announced at a January 26 press conference that restrictions limiting gathering sizes and business operations will stay in place into mid-February.
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Houston said keeping restrictions is necessary because Covid-19 is still spreading, putting massive pressure on the province’s healthcare system.
As of January 26, 91 people were admitted to Nova Scotia hospitals because of Covid-19. That includes 15 people in ICU.
There have been 369 hospitalizations and 30 deaths in the province since the start of the Omicron wave on December 8.
“We’ve had a lot of cases over the past month—a lot—and we’ve all been through a lot,” Houston said. “There is still a path to loosening restrictions but it’s a path that extends past January 31.”
Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said the province plans to keep restrictions in place until February 14.
He said the Omicron wave of Covid-19 appears to be on the decline. Hospitalizations tend to lag a few weeks behind case data, so he expects to see those start to fall soon, as well.
“But we’re not out of this wave yet,” Strang said.
“Keeping restrictions in place a little longer should give more time for cases to continue to trend downward and help relieve the pressure on the healthcare system,” he added.
Strang said public health officials are “working on a plan now” to start lifting restrictions “in a phased approach” starting in February.
Strang said his team will closely monitor hospitalizations and “if things go well” they will start allowing larger gathering limits, as well as ease rules for sports practices and arts and culture events.
If possible, Strang said, they might even be able to loosen some restrictions sooner.
Houston said that, along with hospitalizations, the number of Nova Scotians with booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine will also be a factor in how quickly restrictions are lifted.
On that front, there is good news.
Houston said the province had initially planned to get about 139,000 Nova Scotians their booster doses in January.
However, as of January 25, 255,000 booster shots had already been given out. Houston said the province is on track to administer nearly 300,000 shots by the end of the month.
That would mean about 485,000 Nova Scotians will have their booster shots by the start of February.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].