HALIFAX - Ten days into a three-month, three-phrase reopening strategy, the Province of Nova Scotia has rewritten its COVID-19 playbook and now intends to end all restrictions related to the pandemic on March 21. 

Premier Tim Houston and the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, confirmed during Wednesday afternoon's Nova Scotia media briefing for COVID-19 that hospitalization numbers and case counts for the province have stabilized to the point that provincial officials now feel that the risk of further spread is now further outweighed by the mental and emotional health risks to those who have spent the past two years dealing with pandemic restrictions in Nova Scotia and around the world. 

As a result, changes will get under way this coming Monday, when Nova Scotians will no longer be required to present proof of full vaccination to such "non-essential discretionary events and activities" such as patronizing restaurants or licensed established, according to a press release issued by the provincial government as Houston and Strang were making their remarks. 

The following Monday, March 7, at 12:01 a.m., Nova Scotia's official Phase 2 gets under way - a full two weeks earlier than originally anticipated - and introduces further loosening of restrictions for everything from the retail and restaurant sectors to sports, arts and culture, faith gatherings, long-term-care and acute-care facilities, and household gathering limits, which will now grow to 25 indoors and 50 outdoors, while rising to 75 for events hosted by a recognized organization.

At public schools, the current restrictions will stay in place until the March Break for Nova Scotia learning facilities, which runs from March 12-20 this year. The following day, March 21, all restrictions are slated to be dropped across the province. 

In another sign of Nova Scotia's shifting in its COVID-19 strategy, Houston and Strang hinted that yesterday's media briefing could be the last specifically dedicated to this topic, while also confirming that daily data counts for COVID-19's presence in the province will stop on March 4, giving way to weekly data updates.