Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard from doctors that Nova Scotia’s hospitals are full, surgeries are delayed, healthcare workers are exhausted to the brink – and yet the government’s Nova Scotia Health Authority is still a no-show at COVID briefings.

“They’re notably absent on what’s been the most detrimental COVID wave on our hospitals,” says Health and Wellness critic Zach Churchill. “Our hospitals are over capacity right now, and Premier Houston has failed to produce anyone from the health authority to speak to their plan for our hospitals.”

More than 15 per cent of COVID deaths in the province have happened just in the last week and a half. Hospital staffing shortages and a record number of COVID patients mean the province has well surpassed the worst-case scenario described by NSHA CEO Dr. Brendan Carr at a COVID briefing last May.

At the time of Carr’s cautioning, there were 95 COVID hospitalizations. Omicron’s spread has tripled that number, with more than 300 Nova Scotians now hospitalized with the virus. The strain on hospitals is indisputable.

“Nova Scotians need to know the true impact this virus has had on hospitals,” says Churchill. “They need to be hearing from the Nova Scotia Health Authority like they did in previous waves.”