The kids will be spending more time at home this Christmas break.
Premier Stephen McNeil announced Friday schools would be closing early, Friday Dec 18., and wouldn’t reopen until January 11th.
McNeil says the delay will allow Public Health officials to catch COVID-19 cases arising from the holiday, before kids return to school
“This is really out of caution, quite frankly, using some information that we would have received outside of Public Health,” he says. “We’re just watching, globally, all the news that’s happening in terms of what’s happening around certain holidays.”
He says holiday gatherings have caused spikes in COVID-19, and they are looking to avoid that.
McNeil says this decision wasn’t based on the epidemiology of the virus.
“It’s really a precautionary measure,” he says, “It’s my belief that families would want us to do everything we can to protect our kids, and that’s really what this is, it’s a precaution to do that.”
He says the province will be releasing updated recommendations for holiday gatherings sometime next week.
McNeil also announced $1.6 million in spending for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, which will disperse it in $25,000 grants to organizations with plans to address a unique need, or promote recovery and reintegration for residents living with mental illness and addiction.
Public Health has reported nine new cases of COVID-19 Friday.
Three in Western Zone, one in Northern Zone, and five, including a new school-based case, in Central Zone.
There are now 65 active infections, with 8 recoveries since Thursday.
