40 in hospital with COVID-19 as N.S. reports 1,020 cases Tuesday
Next briefing to be held Jan. 5 at 3 p.m. AT
Nova Scotia reported 1,020 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 40 people in hospital due to the virus, including five in intensive care.
Hospitalizations are currently well below the number during the spring wave of COVID-19, when at one point in May more than 100 people were in hospital due to the virus.
Of those in hospital:
- About 10 per cent have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
- About 61 per cent are fully vaccinated (two doses).
- About three per cent are partially vaccinated.
- About 26 per cent are unvaccinated.
Of Tuesday's reported cases, 544 are in the central zone,182 are in the eastern zone, 153 are in the western zone and 141 are in the northern zone.
The premier said Monday the province was not introducing new public health restrictions at the moment, but officials are watching the situation closely and there is another update scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. AT.
Among the groups waiting to see what's announced Wednesday is the Public School Administrators Association of Nova Scotia.
Tim Simony, the association's chair, said there are many details of the back-to-school plan yet to be released, which makes it difficult for his members to know how to prepare for in-person learning.
Students are currently scheduled to go back to in-person learning in Nova Scotia on Jan. 10, but Houston and Strang said Monday they are monitoring case numbers and will have further updates at the Wednesday briefing.
Simony said people are looking for further information about how cohorting will work in schools and what, if anything, administrators will have to do regarding contact tracing. At a recent COVID-19 briefing, it was stated that public health officials will no longer do contact tracing in schools and school principals should be notified if a student tests positive.
"The system and administrators have not received any direction on that matter as of yet," said Simony.
Simony said the focus for his association is whether the asks of administrators are sustainable and feasible, based on available resources. The association doesn't take a position on whether classes should resume in person or online.
"The position that we've had since March 2020 has been that we rely on the decision-making and direction that is established by the chief medical officer of health. That's where the expertise and the science and decision-making capacity is," he said.
Several hospitals have reported outbreaks, including the Halifax Infirmary, Dartmouth General, the Victoria General site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre, St. Martha's Regional and New Waterford Consolidated.
Visitor restrictions have been put in place at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, Dartmouth General and Colchester East Hants Health Centre because of increased COVID-19 activity.
The province opened up access to booster dose appointments Monday morning for those 30+ who last had their second dose of vaccine at least 168 days ago.
Atlantic Canada case numbers
- Newfoundland and Labrador reported 493 new cases Tuesday for a total of 3,254 active cases. There is one person in hospital.
- Prince Edward Island reported 198 new cases Tuesday. There are 1,159 active cases. Three people are in hospital being treated for COVID-19, one in intensive care. There are four people in hospital for other reasons who have tested positive for the virus.
- New Brunswick reported three deaths and 746 new cases on Tuesday. There are 56 people are in hospital, including 16 in intensive care. Eleven people in hospital are on ventilators. There are 6,112 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
With files from Michael Gorman
