Nova Scotians now have to make the best decisions for their own health.
That was the message from Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang, who took questions from reporters today after the province announced all remaining COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted on Wednesday.
He says public health needs to balance the response to COVID-19 with other health and economic concerns.
“COVID-19 is not going away. We’re going to have some level of the virus with us for the foreseeable future. So we have to find a way of dealing with it, like with other respiratory viruses, that is feasible, realistic and sustainable over the long term.”
He was also asked how public health could justify the move as it could lead to an increase in deaths.
“Our response at the very beginning of the pandemic was necessarily very strict because we were dealing with something we knew virtually nothing about. Plus we had no underlying immunity, that’s why it was a pandemic,” says Strang. “Over two years we’ve learned lots and lots about the virus.”
He says we now know more about who is at risk and how the virus is transmitted and the province has built strong protection against COVID-19 through vaccination.
