Students can return to school in two weeks to retrieve their belongings.<\/p>\n
The province\u2019s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang made the announcement during Tuesday\u2019s COVID-19 update.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeginning the week of May 25th<\/sup>, a single student or family member will be able to access their local school by appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n He says appointments are necessary to ensure social distancing is maintained and that schools will be in touch with more details.<\/p>\n Strang also addressed reports coming out from the World Health Organization around smoking and its effects on COVID-19.<\/p>\n He says smokers are more likely to develop a more serious case of COVID-19 than non-smokers<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s because of the direct links with smoking, the harms on the respiratory system. But, smoking also has negative impacts on our immune systems, increases the risk of other diseases which create vulnerabilities for COVID-19 such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n Strang says those diseases also increase the risk of developing more severe cases of COVID-19.<\/p>\n As of today, May 12, Nova Scotia has 1,020 confirmed cases of COVID-19. One new case was identified Monday, May 11.<\/p>\n The QEII Health Sciences Centre’s microbiology lab completed 427 tests on May 11.<\/p>\n There are three licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors’ facilities in Nova Scotia with active cases of COVID-19.<\/p>\n Northwood in Halifax currently has 157 residents and eight staff with active cases.<\/p>\n One other facility has one staff member with an active case of COVID-19 and another facility has one resident with an active case.<\/p>\n