HALIFAX: The provincial government has released what they plan to use to plan for the province’s recovery from COVID-19.
The slideshow of the plan is actually a national framework developed by Canada’s chief medical officers of health and public health advice to provinces and territories. This is not the Nova Scotia plan to re-open.
According to Global Halifax, Dr. Strang said the key is balancing the risk posed by reopening sectors of the province with the need to increase economic and social activity.
Both Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Strang indicated cautious optimism, with the ability to relax the province’s COVID-19 restrictions dependent on meeting health criteria and not a set date.
There is no timeline for Nova Scotia’s next steps although COVID19 cases in the province are trending in the right direction.
According to the presentation, released at the COVID19 press briefing on May 8 in Halifax, some goals they have include:
• There is some risk of increased transmission with reopening sectors of society
• We must balance this risk with the need to increase economic and social activity for the health of all Nova Scotians.
• Every attempt will be made to minimize risk by rapidly identifying cases and contacts as they emerge.
The exact details on how the re-opening will look in N.S. remains unknown. However, according to Global Halifax’s story, the first phase could include the opening of some businesses; the reopening of daycares; allowing non-urgent health-care services to resume; allowing cultural gatherings such as funerals and increasing the permitted type of gatherings.
The full presentation as released can be found here: https://novascotia.ca/news/docs/2020/05/08/COVID-19-planning-for-a-new-normal.pdf
