N.S. reports 178 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday

Nova Scotia reported 178 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the sixth day in a row the province announced more than 100 new infections.

Of the new cases, 55 are in the eastern zone, 113 are in the central zone, five are in the northern zone and five are in the western zone. Due to a backlog in entering case data into Panorama, the province's public health information system, it's unclear how many active cases are in the province. 

Six people are in hospital with COVID-19, including two in intensive care.

On Wednesday, the province announced the last day of public school classes for the year will be Friday due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Students had been expected to remain in the classroom until Dec. 21.

Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax became the fourth university to cancel in-person exams following the latest outbreak, linked to the recent X-Ring ceremony and associated events at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. The change comes into effect at 8 a.m. local time on Thursday, so any exams scheduled before that will go ahead as planned.

In-person exams scheduled after 8 a.m. on Thursday will either move online or be in a take-home format, at the discretion of the instructor, according to a news release from the school.

The province added more than a dozen school exposures on Wednesday:

• A.G. Baillie Memorial School in New Glasgow.

• Cobequid Educational Centre in Truro.

• Enfield District School in Enfield.

• F.H. MacDonald Academy in Thorburn.

• G.R. Saunders Elementary School in Stellarton.

• McCulloch Education Centre in Pictou.

• Tatamagouche Regional Academy in Tatamagouche.

• Upper Stewiacke Elementary School in Upper Stewiacke.

• West Pictou Consolidated School in Pictou.

• École acadienne de Pomquet in Pomquet.

• Atlantic Memorial Terence Bay Elementary in Shad Bay.

• Prospect Road Elementary in Hatchet Lake.

• Sackville High in Lower Sackville.

• Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School in Antigonish.

• St. Andrews Consolidated School in St. Andrews.

The province maintains a list of school exposures here.

Public Health announced Hammonds Plains Consolidated in Hammonds Plains would move to at-home learning. The school will be closed Thursday and will reopen with students returning to class Jan 6.

What we know about the Omicron variant

On Monday, Nova Scotia announced it had identified 40 cases of Omicron — the latest COVID-19 variant of concern — all of which are related to the current outbreak at St. Francis Xavier University.

Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health, told CBC Radio's Information Morning the next day that Ontario is calling a men's university rugby tournament held in Kingston, Ont., at the end of November a "super spreader event," and a team from Dalhousie attended the event. There could potentially be a link between the Kingston tournament and the St. FX outbreak.

Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious disease specialist and clinician at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said scientists are just starting to understand Omicron with initial data coming from South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Barrett said Omicron is already proving to be more transmissible but symptoms tend to be milder.

"And I caveat that because I'm really strongly not encouraging folks yet to presume that this is just like the common cold," Barrett told CBC Radio's Mainstreet on Tuesday. 

"I know we all want to get there but there are also some suggestions of more symptoms that are not just respiratory. They may involve some of your GI tract, so some nausea-diarrhea type things, some of which can be so significant that people get dehydration from them."

In regard to vaccine protection, Barrett said real-world data is showing that the vaccines are still about 70 per cent effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death.

"However, infection is more common, so protection from just getting infected probably comes down into the 30s with the Omicron," she said. 

"And that means that people will get infected and may be able to spread virus around, which of course, is a concern in countries and places on this globe that still have unvaccinated children and vulnerable folks who aren't boosted yet."

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• New Brunswick reported two deaths and 109 new cases on Tuesday. The province has 1,051 active cases, with 44 people in hospital, including 14 in intensive care.
• Newfoundland and Labrador reported 13 new cases on Wednesday. The province has 34 active cases.
• Prince Edward Island reported three cases on Tuesday. The province has 36 active cases.