HALIFAX - Following a two-month period that included some of the strictest restrictions Nova Scotia has faced in the entire COVID-19 pandemic, the province is ready to embark on what it hopes will be the final steps towards completely eliminating pandemic protocols. 

Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the province's latest COVID-19 briefing, Premier Tim Houston and the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, confirmed that this coming Monday, February 14, will see the first of three month-long reopening phases that are designed to end with all restrictions eliminated, with the exception of mask mandates and the need to present proof of vaccination at specific public places. 

The first phase will see the return of sports competitions and arts and culture performances, following a increase in gathering limits for practices and rehearsals, respectively, this past Monday. Phase 1 will also see household gathering limits increase from 10 to 25 people indoors and outdoors, while retail stores can open to 100 per cent to capacity and restaurants, licensed establishments and houses of worship can increase to 50 per cent capacity. As well, all border restrictions will be lifted for domestic travelers. 

Further increases in gathering limits are planning for Phase 2 of Nova Scotia's reopening strategy, which is scheduled to get under way in mid-March, while the third phase will contain "no more gathering limits or physical distance requirements," according to a provincial government press release issued Wednesday.

Despite the hopeful tone struck at this week's COVID-19 media briefing, the first such press conference in two weeks, Dr. Strang and Premier Houston warned that the Omicron variant is still having an impact on Nova Scotia's health care system. Dr. Strang declared that hospital-bed capacity in the province is now "106 per cent," with a combined 367 people now in Nova Scotia hospitals as a result of COVID-19. This represents an all-time high for pandemic-related hospital admissions, which became Nova Scotia's key metric for representing the severity of COVID-19 in the province earlier this winter.