Popular N.S. resort to close temporarily as COVID-19 case counts climb

A popular resort on Nova Scotia's South Shore has announced it will close until the end of the month as COVID-19 case counts continue to rise.

Nova Scotia has been reporting high COVID-19 case numbers over the past few weeks, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

In an Instagram post Sunday, White Point Resort said some of its employees have tested positive for the virus "after almost two years of relentless effort and sacrifice."

"We are now at the point where we feel it is necessary to do our part in order to help slow the spread of Covid-19, and close the property yet again," the post said.

The property had shut down in March 2020 just as the pandemic was getting underway. It reopened in June of that year, but only to residents of the four Atlantic provinces — or the so-called Atlantic bubble.

That policy drew criticism the following summer, when fully vaccinated Canadians were allowed to come to Nova Scotia without any self-isolation requirements. The resort quickly reversed its decision and once again began welcoming Canadians from outside the Atlantic region.

The post said the resort will close Monday and stay that way until at least Jan. 31, as it awaits more information from Premier Tim Houston and Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health.

"We would like to thank you all for your continued support, and while this is not how we wanted to start out 2022, we feel it to be the safest thing to do for all of us," the post said.

Dylan Meisner, White Point's general manager, declined an interview request.

837 new cases

Nova Scotia is reporting 837 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

There are 541 new cases in the central health zone, 133 in the eastern zone, 90 in the northern zone and 73 in the western zone.

The province has been issuing abbreviated updates over the weekends that do not include current hospitalization numbers.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, said earlier this week that the province would be focusing more on hospitalizations rather than case numbers during this Omicron-driven wave of the pandemic.

As of Friday, there were 48 people in hospital with the virus, including seven in intensive care.

The hospitalization numbers are well below those from last spring's COVID-19 wave. There were more than 100 people in hospital in Nova Scotia due to the virus last May.

Nova Scotia Health labs completed 4,144 tests on Saturday.

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• New Brunswick reported 201 new cases and a death on Sunday. There are 79 people in hospital with COVID-19. There are 16 patients in intensive care.
• Newfoundland and Labrador reported 367 new cases Sunday for a total of 4,944 active cases. There are six people in hospital.
• Prince Edward Island reported 110 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday. Two people are in hospital being treated for COVID-19, one in intensive care.