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Two media conferences combine this week to give us a picture of the state of the province as we approach the end of January.

On Wednesday, Dr. Brent Roussin and Dr. Joss Reimer shared a provincial vaccination update with new statistics regarding vaccine effectiveness in varying age groups and effectiveness against omicron. As well, in conjunction with Bell Let’s Talk day, they promoted mental health supports for anyone struggling during the pandemic.

Today, Friday, Health Minister Audrey Gordon is joined by Dr. Brent Roussin and Dr. David Matear to announce that public health orders will be extended by one week to allow enough time to confirm the current trend of COVID-19 data. And what is that trend? They are seeing early indications of stabilisation in the impact on our health system, which may mean that the omicron wave has peaked or is currently peaking.

Today’s conference is our first opportunity to hear from new lead of Unified Health Sector Incident Command, Dr. David Matear, who talks about the strategies the health care system is using to maximize its ICU capacity, including the training of new nurses, reallocation of staff, and the transfer of patients to facilities outside of their home health region. He was also able to outline some of the indicators they use to determine community spread of the virus, such as tracking increases in employee absenteeism and testing wastewater.

Next week the province is expecting to deliver new health orders and outline new supports for business and the arts and cultural industry.