Nova Scotia Hits New Highs in COVID-19 Cases for Three Straight Days

HALIFAX - Businesses owners, school administrators and the general public are all scrambling to keep up with soaring COVID-19 case counts, a rash of local exposure sites and new provincial restrictions, both in the Strait Area and across Nova Scotia. 

Hours before Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, and Premier Tim Houston held their latest media briefing on the afternoon on Friday, December 17, a wide range of new gathering-limit and social-distancing rules came into effect across the province. These include limiting household gatherings to "a consistent social group of up to 20 people." stricter physician distancing between tables and a table-limit of 20 people in restaurants and licensed establishments, stronger masking requirements for workspaces and common areas within work environments, and the restriction of participants in sports and arts/culture activities to 60 people, with tournaments and such school activities as assemblies and holiday concerts cancelled immediately.

In addition to this new reality, this past Friday was the last day of school many students will experience for nearly three weeks. Having already confirmed that classes will not resume at most schools until January 6, with learning centres slated to reopen 48 hours earlier, the provincial Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) announced last week that its public schools - including those within the French-language Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) and the indigenous schools operated by Mi'kmaq communities - would close for the holiday break on December 17. However, Education Minister Becky Druhan stated that the early closure was not in response to COVID-19 exposures among students but the difficulty in maintaining the required number of staff members during this stage of the pandemic. 

Locally, exposures have been confirmed at two Port Hawkesbury schools - Tamarac Education Centre (TEC) and Strait Area Education and Recreation Centre (SAERC) - as well as the main public school site in Guysborough and four schools in the town and county of Antigonish. These are all believed to be directly linked to the outbreak of COVID-19 that has resulted from St. Francis Xavier University's X-Ring presentation ceremony, and a number of official and unofficial gatherings connected to this event. 

Premier Houston announced on Friday that the university and its student union had each been fined $11,622.50 for failing to comply to Nova Scotia's gathering-limit, masking and social-distancing rules at the X-Ring events. This figure is the maximum fine that can be charged for such activities under the current Nova Scotia COVID-19 restrictions.

The StFX outbreak has resulted in exposures at dozens of Antigonish businesses, as well as the Irving Big Stop in Auld's Cove - not far from the Canso Causeway - and Miller's Restaurant at the Maritime Inn on Reeves Street in Port Hawkesbury.