VANCOUVER – A new COVID-19 crisis is brewing in Newfoundland and Labrador and it’s creating enough concern for Saturday’s provincial election to be partially postponed.
With a record 100 new cases being reported Thursday, Elections NL can’t retain enough workers to staff the polls. As a result, the province is now postponing the upcoming vote in the St. John’s area, which has seen cases spike.
The election will continue as planned in other parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We are LIVE with @PremierofNL, @HCS_GovNL Minister, John Haggie, and @CMOH_NL for an update on #COVID19 in Newfoundland and Labrador https://t.co/2snY8pgTLd
— Government of NL (@GovNL) February 11, 2021
Thursday’s case count crushes the province’s previous one-day record of 53, set just Wednesday.
“The breakdown is as follows: 74 under 20, 10 between 20 and 39, four between 40 and 49, six between 50 and 59, one between 60 and 69, and four over 70. The total number of cases in our province is now 610,” said Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province’s chief medical officer of health.
All but one of the cases are in the St. John’s area.
Ontario school break postponed
Meanwhile, Ontario’s education minister has announced the province is postponing March break until the week of April 12.
Minister Stephen Lecce says the decision was made after consulting Ontario’s chief medical officer of health and others. The province is hoping to avoid a repeated spike in youth-related cases.
Fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Ontario Thursday, but public health warns that number is underreported due to a data migration.
This is the second time since November the province has reported fewer than 1,000 cases. The other instance was last week amid another problem with data migration from Toronto Public Health.
