“The pandemic continues to make a mess of things across the province,” premier Tim Houston said Friday, following 394 new cases of COVID-19 being reported. Seven people are in hospital, with two in ICU.
Thursday there were nearly 300 new cases, with another almost 400 new cases today, marking the highest two-day case total Nova Scotia has seen since the pandemic began at just shy of 700 (680 total). The high cases have caused incredible pressure on public health and lab professionals, the premier said. Chief medical officer of health Robert Strang said the province is in the midst of an omicron wave, while delta variant cases are still present.
“The reality is the case numbers will continue to stay high. We expect to see sustained high case counts over the coming days for sure,” Houston said.
“I wish I had better news, but I need to be honest,” Doctor Strang said. “The case numbers likely aren’t reflective of just how much disease we have. Omicron is spreading faster and easier than any other variant.”
Workforces in health and education have been impacted by the high case count, Houston said, which has many staff off work sick and many more in isolation. “The impact is very real,” he said.
Given the high caseload, public health will have less contact with those who test positive for COVID. There will be a call within 24 hours of a positive result, but contact tracing and notification of exposure will be up to the individual who tests positive.
The province will also be adjusting testing strategy next week due to high demand. It’s not yet clear what this will look like, but Strang said the province is working to procure more rapid tests.
“What I’ll be talking about in more detail next week is how we may adjust how we use rapid test kits to those who it’s most important they get a test are tested,” he said.
The province did not lay out any additional public health restrictions today. Strang said this is because it’ll take about a week to see the impact of the gathering and physical distancing restrictions which came into effect this morning.
There are also no new rules for travel or borders, though Strang asked that people “slow down, stick close to home.” The chief medical officer says at this stage he sees no value in closing borders to vaccinated people because omicron is already active in Nova Scotia.
“But if we have to go further, look at further restrictions, we’d certainly be looking at the border along with other things,” he said.
While other provinces, like Ontario and Saskatchewan, have opened up booster doses of COVID vaccine to everyone over 18, Strang says Nova Scotia will continue its plan to offer boosters gradually by age cohort. He says the province will continue to prioritize those who are at higher risk for serious illness. It’s expected the 55-59 age group will become eligible in the new year. Currently those 60 and older and those who are immunocompromised are eligible.
Strang asked that younger Nova Scotians be patient. “We will get to you,” he said.
The province rolled out a sector impact support program targeted at the business affected by the restrictions on gathering and physical distancing, which started Friday morning. The cash comes from $10 million in unused funds that have been sitting in the Dalhousie University-administered COVID relief coffer.
The program will give a one-time grant of $2,500-to-$7,500 to businesses depending on payroll costs.
This article appears in Dec 9-29, 2021.
