With record case numbers in the province, Liberal Leader Iain Rankin is calling on Premier Houston to schedule a COVID briefing as soon as possible, as well as a return to daily data reporting, including case counts, and hospitalizations.

Two weeks after the premier lifted nearly all restrictions in the province, hospitals are being inundated with COVID patients and employee absenteeism, forcing surgeries and medical procedures to be postponed.

“We are seeing case numbers rise quickly and an increase of hospitalizations in this province, but there is still time to align Premier Houston’s COVID approach with public health advice, and prevent more of our most vulnerable from ending up in the ICU,” says Rankin. “I am asking for the Premier to revisit what medical health experts have been recommending and consider how important mask mandates, testing, and limiting contacts have been in slowing the spread of the virus.”

As it stands, Nova Scotians are only given a snapshot of COVID data each week.

“We need transparency in the numbers and for the government to be more definitive with public health measures so we can avoid the worst impacts of this wave,” says Rankin.