Nova Scotia’s top doctor says COVID-19 restrictions announced last week are not enough as the province imposes harsher restrictions ahead of the holidays.
New measures set to go into effect Wednesday morning include reducing gatherings to 10 people, limits on in-person faith services and restricting singing to one person, businesses reduced to 50 per cent capacity, licensed establishments must stop service at 11 p.m. and close by midnight and long-term care facilities limiting visitors to two.
Dr. Robert Strang recognizes the impact these new restrictions will have during the holidays.
“What we are asking you to do now is probably the most difficult request we have made yet. This is a long two years and there’s a lot of disappointment about having to do this yet again in the holiday season. But that is our reality, and we have to deal with it," said Strang.
A link to the full release and all the new restrictions can be found here.
With 83 per cent of samples sent to the national testing lab coming back positive for Omicron, Strang says the variant has become dominant strain of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
The aggressive nature of omicron has impacted workers across all fields, including the medical profession, leading to staff shortages as employees self-isolate to prevent further spread.
Strang says Nova Scotians need to slow down and reduce their contacts.
“If we continue to have an ongoing high case numbers and building hospitalization rates, we reach a point where our healthcare system become very, very challenged from two perspectives: higher numbers of people requiring medical care in hospitals and worsening of an already existing challenges around getting the number of healthcare workers we need,' said Strang.
He ended his prepared statement with a personal message to Nova Scotians.
“I want to end today speaking you from my heart. This is a worrisome sad and frustrating time. As your chief medical officer of health, I feel immense pressure to make the right decisions to protect Nova Scotians and to find the best balance to minimize harm from COVID and COVID control measures. I'm not gonna get it right every time and in retrospect, perhaps we did not get things quite right last week,” said Strang. “Things are changing fast with this new variant and there is limited information but please know that my recommendations and decisions always have the best interests of all Nova Scotians in mind.”
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson
To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.