Nova Scotia reported one new case of COVID-19 on Friday and announced the expansion of the province’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
The expansion will include anyone who is 80 years of age and older and born in May, June, July or August.
According to the province, people aged 80 and older and born between May 1 and Aug. 31 will be able to book an appointment at a community clinic starting Monday.
New COVID-19 case and vaccine rollouts
Rankin also said the province saw a record number of vaccinations this week and is expecting 100,000 vaccines more than what it’s received so far.
In the meantime, Rankin and Strang are encouraging families to keep social bubbles as small as possible during March break, even as camps continue running this year.
Helping the tourism industry
At the briefing, Rankin acknowledged the toll the pandemic has taken on businesses, notably those in the tourism industry, and announced a rebate program for hotels, motels and inn operators.
He explained that the program will provide qualified operators a 50 per cent rebate on their property tax paid for the first six months of 2021-22 commercial tax.
According to the province, this one-time payment will help ease some of the pressures experienced by operators resulting from the restrictions of the pandemic.
Operators can use the rebate for any aspect of their business, such as hiring staff, paying down debt, paying utilities or ordering supplies.
According to the province, the following groups are still eligible to be immunized:
- Those aged 80 and older and born between Jan. 1 and April 30 can book an appointment at a community clinic.
- People who are 63 and 64 years old can book an appointment for the AstraZeneca vaccine at one of 25 pharmacies and physicians’ offices.
“Nova Scotians who are in one of these groups are encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible,” the province said in a press release.
“Other groups will become eligible as more vaccine is rolled out across the province.”
The province said its goal continues to be to immunize as many Nova Scotians as quickly as possible, based on age, to reach a high rate of population immunity.
COVID-19 vaccination appointments must be made on the province’s website.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority’s labs completed 2,681 Nova Scotia tests on March 11.
Since Oct. 1, 2020, Nova Scotia has completed 260,489 tests. There have been 577 positive COVID-19 cases and no deaths.
One person is currently in hospital. There are 560 resolved cases.
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