Students can look forward to an extended holiday break this year.<\/p>\n
Premier Tim Houston made the announcement at Tuesday\u2019s COVID-19 briefing that public schools will return Jan. 6 instead of Jan. 4 as previously planned.<\/p>\n
Houston says the education department proposed the extra time to provide public health officials more time to assess any potential COVID-19 spread following the holiday break.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe department, just on balance, looked at what\u2019s happening around and said a couple more days is not going to hurt the academic calendar,\u201d said Houston. \u201cIf we can get through the holidays and kind of reset starting in the new year, that\u2019s better for students and teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nova Scotia\u2019s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang says the province\u2019s vaccination rates are climbing.<\/p>\n
Almost 82 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Strang expects those numbers will increase even more as parents have been snapping up vaccination appointment for their five- to eleven-year-olds.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, almost 29,000 of 65,000 five- to eleven-year-olds, and that\u2019s almost 45 percent, have had a first dose or an appointment scheduled,\u201d said Strang. \u201cThat\u2019s quite something, we\u2019ve just begun immunizing a week ago.\"<\/p>\n
Strang is still urging Nova Scotians to be cautious and follow COVID-19 protocols such as wearing masks, frequent hand-washing and social distancing.<\/p>\n
He says that caution should be front of mind when making holiday travel plans as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re certainly far more open than we were last Christmas but we\u2019re still in a pandemic. For me it\u2019s about, we need to slow down our lives and be careful about how active we are,\u201d said Strang. \u201cThere\u2019s more virus around in New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec than there is in Nova Scotia. So, now\u2019s the time to enjoy the increased freedoms, if you will, and opportunities we have in Nova Scotia while we\u2019re still in a pandemic. But also, let\u2019s not go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strang says everyone still needs to be careful and cautious, even within the province, about how much travel, and how many social events and people they\u2019re exposed to.<\/p>\n
He encourages Nova Scotians to enjoy a much less restricted holiday season than last year.<\/p>\n