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‘Serious situation’ in Nova Scotia

More restrictions announced as province reports 227 cases, one death

NEBAL SNAN SALTWIRE NETWORK nebal.snan@herald.ca @nebalsnan

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is reporting a new record number of new cases, prompting the province to further tighten restrictions for at least the rest of May.

The province is also reporting a woman in her 70s has died of COVID-19. She died at her home in the central zone, said Premier Iain Rankin at a live briefing Friday.

This is the third person this week to die of the virus at home before receiving care at a hospital. The province announced Monday it will be waiving ambulance fees for Covid-19-related emergencies to remove a barrier for those who don't seek care because they can't afford it.

Rankin announced 227 new COVID-19 cases Friday, marking the seventh day in a row that Nova Scotia reports three-digit daily numbers.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, said COVID-19 activity in the province is higher than what Public Health expected. The cases being reported this week are a result of people's behaviour before restrictions came in place in late April.

"It's clear that there is no way we will have the current

outbreak controlled in a couple of weeks," said Strang.

"Province-wide restrictions for the month of May will help us with the outbreak in the Halifax area and they will also help limit or slow spread in other communities."

As of Friday, Nova Scotia has 1,464 active cases of COVID-19. There are 50 people in hospital, including nine in ICU.

PUBLIC HEALTH OVERWHELMED

On top of Friday's announced cases, there are over 200 positive cases that have not been investigated by public health or reported as positive to the public, said Rankin.

"The volume of cases has exceeded the capacity of public health," said Strang.

"Because of the (backlog) I expect the number of cases to remain high for a number of days ... We will get on top of the volume just like we did with the lab, but it will take time."

To relieve some pressure off the Public Health team, Strang said Nova Scotia Health is now designating a team to contact positive cases and inform them of their test result as soon as their tests are processed by the lab. Nova Scotia Health said the process will be done by text. Public Health would later call the cases for contact tracing.

Given that the variants are more transmissible, anyone who is feeling unwell is likely to have COVID-19 and their household is likely to have been infected, said Strang. That's why anyone who tested for COVID-19 and has not been contacted by Public Health or anyone feeling unwell should assume they're positive and their entire household should go into isolation.

DISRUPTIVE BUT NECESSARY MEASURES

Rankin and Strang announced restrictions Friday that include an extension of school closures, more limits on shopping, tighter border restrictions and stricter isolation requirements for rotational workers.

"The situation we're in right now in Nova Scotia is very serious," Rankin said in a news release.

"We understand that extending province-wide restrictions through May and closing our border is disruptive, but it has to be done. This is about protecting our people and our health-care system."

Public and private schools will remain closed to students and at-home learning will continue until at least the end of May.

New border measures will take effect at 8 a.m. on Monday and will remain until at least the end of the month. The measures include closing the border to anyone who intends to move to the province. Anyone who bought a house or planned to spend the summer here are not allowed to enter the province. The border will also close to people coming from P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador. Nonessential travel from other provinces has been banned since late April.

No exceptions will be granted for people entering the province for a funeral and limited exceptions will be given to people visiting an immediate family member who is at end of life.

Some people will still be allowed to enter Nova Scotia. They include permanent residents returning to the province, people who work outside the province, and post-secondary students returning home or entering to study. Parents from outside Nova Scotia are not allowed pick students up or drop them off.

People travelling for child custody reasons and following the child custody protocol, and those who are exempt from self-isolation, following the exempt traveller protocol, such as long-haul truck drivers, airline crew, first responders, people needing essential health services, are also allowed to enter the province.

Borders will stay open for people who follow the protocol for travel between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for work, school and childcare only.

Effective immediately, rotational workers returning home from outbreak zones, such as Fort Mcmurray, must self-isolate for 14 days in a completely separate space from the other people in their households. Modified selfisolation is on hold for the month of May.

RESTRICTIONS ON SHOPPING

Effective at 8 a.m. today, Nova Scotians must designate one shopper per household and retail stores that offer in-person shopping will impose a limit of one shopper per household, with exceptions made for children and caregivers.

Retail stores that primarily offer products and services that are essential to the life, health or personal safety of people and animals can continue to provide limited in-person service only to a maximum of 25 per cent of the store capacity in order to limit the number of people inside the store. Essential product categories include food, pharmaceutical products, medicine and medical devices, personal hygiene products, cleaning products, baby and child products, gas stations and garages and pet and animal supplies.

Strang and Rankin encouraged people to order goods online for pickup or delivery whenever possible and to limit their trips to retail stores and their time spent shopping. Businesses should also stop selling non-essential goods, said Rankin.

Nova Scotians are required to remain in their own communities except for essential travel such as for work, necessary shopping and medical appointments including testing and vaccination appointments.

VACCINE ROLL OUT EXPANDED

Nova Scotia added a new age group to its Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna rollout.

Starting Friday, May 7, people aged 45 to 49 can book an appointment for either vaccine at community clinics and pharmacies across the province. The vaccines were previously only available to people 50 years and older.

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2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

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