HALIFAX - While Nova Scotia ended its pandemic-related state of emergency late Sunday night and has lifted nearly all of its COVID-19 restrictions today, the province is still recommending that masks remain on faces found in schools, health care centers, long-term-care units and prisons within provincial borders.

Premier Tim Houston and the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, made the announcement during a COVID-19 briefing held late Friday afternoon and only confirmed with media representatives that morning. The briefing came one day after officials with the IWK Health Centre in Halifax expressed concerns about the lifting of mask mandates on March 21, adding to similar statements made by the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union following the previous media briefing, which had confirmed that masks were slated to be removed from school use on the first day back to class following Nova Scotia's traditional March Break period. 

At the same press briefing, Dr. Strang challenged all Nova Scotians to consider maintaining mask usage and safe social distancing to lessen the chances of COVID-19 being spread to the immunocompromised and the immunosuppressed, in response to a question posed by Telile Community Television LJI participant Adam Cooke. 

"They should have four doses instead of three doses of vaccine, so we're making sure that we're following the national recommendations for those groups," Dr. Strang pointed out. 

"But...we need all Nova Scotians to take COVID-19 seriously and follow those personal measures. While they protect you, it's just as important that they protect others around you. And there are always going to be people in our community...who, for one reason or another, are always going to be vulnerable to one kind of infectious disease. So they always need the rest of us to be careful to help them remain safe."

Part of this strategy involves ensuring that regular PCR testing options are available for the immunocompromised and immunosuppressed, and Dr. Strang reinforced this topic in response to a second question from Cooke on behalf of Telile.  

"We're still maintaining our 30-plus access points at the Nova Scotia Health Authority facilities for PCR testing, and all of the details are available at the NSHA Web site," Dr. Strang responded 

"Other people who are symptomatic can use a rapid test, but now we have the option that if people have a positive rapid test, they now have the option of going immediately and booking a confirmatory PCR test. And we have broad access to rapid tests at community sites across the province, and again, those are available at the NSHA Web site. So we have lots of access to PCR and rapid testing."