Dr. Robert Strang speaks at COVID briefing February 23, 2022. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Premier Tim Houston and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang announced at Wednesday’s COVID update the restrictions would come off in a phased approach.

The process will begin Monday February 28 when people will no longer have to show proof of vaccination for non-essential events like going to a gym or eating at a restaurant.

The second phase will begin the following week on March 7 when gathering limits will be increased for sporting events, arts and music performances and other formal gatherings.

Some businesses will be able to operate at full capacity at this point.

Restrictions will be fully lifted on March 21.

Strang says the phased approach will allow people who feel protected by the restrictions to ease into life without them.

“Restrictions played a necessary and important role in our response to COVID 19. They helped contain the spread of the virus in the first three waves before we had good vaccine coverage and they were critical in reducing the impact of the Delta and omicron waves,” said Strang. “But they were never meant to be a permanent solution. We always knew that they’d be lifted at some point and now it is time to move away from two years of crisis response and approach living with COVID in a long term and manageable manner.”

Houston praised Dr. Strang and the public health team for guiding Nova Scotians through the pandemic.

Premier Tim Houston at COVID briefing February 23, 2022. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

The premier acknowledged it wasn’t always easy and the restrictions caused rifts in relationships for friends and families.

He called on all Nova Scotians to work to repair those rifts.

“It’s up to each of us to play a part in healing our communities. We can have different opinions on the path to return to normal, how fast, how slow, we can have different opinions on that,” said Houston. “But we need to get back to a place, a respectful place where we find ways to respectfully disagree. Where we find ways and places that we can constantly remember that at our very core, as Nova Scotians, as Bluenosers, we care about each other.”

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A road sign announces Privateer Days in Liverpool in 2014. Photo Ed Halverson

Residents of Liverpool can breathe a collective sigh of relief as Privateer Days is not being disbanded.

Rumours swirled about the demise of the festival after the organizers posted on Facebook asking for volunteers to step forward and replace most of the board.

Privateer Days board chair Terrena Parnell says the event isn’t shutting down, but several board members, including herself are moving on.

“I’ve always believed that if you can’t give 100 percent then don’t do it. At this point, I have other things on the go that I’m not able to give 100 percent and I just feel it would be better in someone else’s hands,” said Parnell.

The Privateer Days board is looking for people to fill the senior roles of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer as well as Directors of Grants & Funding, Music, PR/Media Relations and Vendors.

Like every other festival in the province, the board has been unable to host Privateer Days for the past two years due to COVID restrictions.

Parnell is confident once the positions are filled at their annual general meeting in February the new board will have enough time to settle into their roles and put on the event at the end of June.

“We’ve pretty much got everything in place for them,” said Parnell. “It’s just a matter of moving forward with it and making any changes they feel they want to make or any additions and go from there.”

Parnell says the board was working to make Privateer Days a more family-oriented event, by bringing back fairground rides and revamping how entertainment was to be presented.

“We have three local drinking establishments directly across the parking lot from where Privateer Days is being held. So instead of having the entertainment tent as a “beer tent”, it would’ve gone back to an entertainment tent, and we would’ve supported our local establishments across the road to bring in some business to them as well and to really make it more of a community event,” said Parnell.

It will be up to the new board members to decide if they will follow through on that vision.

Due to current COVID restrictions the Privateer Days annual general meeting will be held virtually over Zoom at 7:30pm of February 24.

Anyone wishing to attend or put themselves forward for one of the vacant positions should contact the Privateer Days board through their website or Facebook page to receive the log on information.

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Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s top doctor says COVID 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 percent capacity, licensed establishments must stop service at 11:00pm 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 percent of samples sent to the national testing lab coming back positive for omicron, Strang says the variant has become dominant strain of COVID 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.”

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Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is returning to tighter COVID restrictions Friday as the new omicron variant has reached the province and infection numbers climb.

At Monday’s update, Dr. Robert Strang says the restrictions will focus on masking, gathering limits and physical distancing.

Strang says he has been asked why, if our province has such high vaccination rates public health is panicked.

“There is no need to panic but there is a need to be cautious. We don’t know enough about this variant to wait and see what happens,” said Strang. “We cannot take the risk of wider spread into more vulnerable groups like seniors and those that are immunocompromised and potentially putting pressure on our health care system.

Beginning Friday December 18, the restrictions coming back in to play will see indoor and outdoor informal gatherings limited to 20 people from the same household or consistent social group.

Six feet of physical distance is required indoors and outdoors, except among that household or consistent social group.

Businesses can operate at the maximum capacity possible with physical distancing and food and liquor-licensed establishments must have physical distance between tables and a limit of 20 people per table.

People must be seated to remove their mask for eating or drinking.

Schools will implement a return to restrictions Tuesday.

In addition to masks again being required when physical distancing cannot be maintained, school concerts are cancelled, sports teams from different schools will no longer compete against each other and classes can no longer mix with other classes in the same schools.

The province reports 114 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

Public Health also announced rapid COVID tests are available in libraries across Nova Scotia.

Anyone testing positive from a rapid test must self-isolate and book a PCR test to verify the result.

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