N.L. to move to modified Alert Level 3 on Monday

Newfoundland and Labrador will move to a modified version of Alert Level 3 of its tiered system of pandemic health restrictionson Monday, the provincial government has announced.

The move, which will loosen restrictions on businesses and gatherings,will allow the province to "open up a little bit more," said Premier Andrew Furey at a COVID-19 briefing Thursday morning.

The province will also lift isolation restrictions for fully vaccinatedtravellers entering the province effective Saturday morning. People arriving in the province will no longer have to self-isolate for two daysbutwill still need to take a COVID-19 rapid test daily for five days after arrival.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said gyms and fitness facilities will be able to reopen at 50 per cent capacity. Bars and restaurants can also open at 50 per cent capacity with distancing between tables and mask-wearing at all times except when seated, eating or drinking.

Movie theatres, performance spaces and bingo halls can reopen at 25 per cent capacity or 50 people, whichever is less, but no food or drinks are allowed.

Arts groups and amateur sports teams can resume activity within their own group without the need for distancing, but travelling for competition is prohibited.

Formal gatherings will be limited to 25 per cent capacity or 50 people, whichever is less, while informal gatherings are limited to a steady 20 contacts.

Fitzgerald said the province will watch case numbers and hospitalizations, and if all goes well the province will ease restrictions further on Feb. 21.

"We need everyone to stay with us while we gradually open the tap and monitor the effect. If co-operation weans now, the impact could result in a delay," she said.

"We are all tired of this pandemic and the restrictions, and I can relate, believe me. But we need to pace ourselves. The last thing anyone wants is to have a set back in the final mile because we moved too fast."

Watch the full briefing here:

The province reported 198 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, along with its 45th death due toCOVID-19, a woman in her 70s in the Eastern Health region.

A total of 372 recoveries were also reported, dropping the known active caseload to 1,720.

Twenty people are hospitalized as a result of COVID-19, with seven in intensive care.Fitzgerald saidthe data trends forecastby Dr. Proton Rahman, who suggested the province could see a peak of 20 to 30 hospitalizations over the course of the Omicron wave, are holding true so far but things could change.

A total of 1,235 COVID-19 tests have been completed in the province since Wednesday, with apositivity rate of 16 per cent. The province has completed 485,021teststo date.

Public Health has completed between 800 and 1,500 tests per day in recent weeks, well below the province's available capacity of 3,000. Fitzgerald said the province is at no longer at a containment stagewhere it needs to know about every case in the province.

"We're not in that mode anymore. That's not our management strategy any longer," she said.'We don't need to know about every case; what we need to know is those cases where knowing about them will make a difference to how we manage them. We feel we're getting good information about that."

The province is also changing guidance onCOVID-19 symptoms, saying red or purple spots on the hands or feet are no longer a symptom that requires isolation. The symptom generally happens later in the disease, Fitzgerald said, usually past the point of the virus being contagious.

Cases will continue through loosened restrictions

As restrictions loosen and people start to move around more, Fitzgerald said, it's likely there will be more cases.

"As we start to move through this, we will get to a point where the prevalence will start to be lower," she said.

To help keep numbers down, Fitzgerald urgedpeople to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster, adding the number of booster shots being distributed has plateaued recently.

According to Furey, about 70 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador's eligible population have received a booster dose. Close to 96 per cent of the eligible population have received at least one dose of vaccine, while over 93 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Fitzgerald said over 22 per cent of children ages five to 11 are now fully vaccinated, while over 78 per cent have received at least one dose.

Fitzgerald said the province is also working on a plan to get a fuller picture of COVID-19 cases, including potentially allowing students who test positive for the virus through a rapid test to voluntarily report their results.

The chief medical officer of health added Public Health is also looking at potential changes to isolation requirements for children and staff in daycare centres. Fitzgerald said the approach taken in schools can't be taken in daycare, as younger children can't be vaccinated yet.

The province has also prescribed its first doses of aCOVID-19 antiviral treatment, according to Haggie. The medication, approved by Health Canada, has been used in three cases so far, the health minister said, but may not be for everyone due to a list of several and severe interactions with other drugs.

The drug is prescribed only in the early days of infection, and is aimed at people who are at severe risk of hospitalization.

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