Nova Scotia reports 6 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday

Nova Scotia reported six deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday, and said 74 people were being treated for the disease in designated hospital units, including 11 in ICU.

The deaths include a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 70s in the central zone, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s in the western zone, and a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s in the northern zone.

On Monday, the province reported seven deaths due to COVID-19, marking the highest death count reported in Nova Scotia on a single day since the pandemic began. On Friday, Nova Scotia reported its youngest COVID-19-related death, a child between five and 11. 

Since the Omicron wave began on Dec. 8, 71 Nova Scotians have died because of COVID-19.

Unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about five times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.

Unvaccinated people are also about six times as likely to die of COVID-19 during the Omicron wave than someone who had received a booster dose, based on numbers provided by the province and last updated on Friday.

The vaccination status of the 74  people being treated in COVID-19 designated hospital units is:

• 20 (27 per cent) people have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
• 26 (35.1 per cent) are fully vaccinated (two doses).
• One (1.4 per cent) is partially vaccinated.
• 27 (36.5 per cent) are unvaccinated.

The age range for people in hospital is 0 to 93 years old, and the median age is 66.

Nova Scotia Health labs completed 1,872 tests on Monday and found 226 new cases of the coronavirus. There are 123 cases in central zone, 19 cases in eastern zone, 28 cases in northern zone and 56 cases in western zone.

As of Tuesday, there were an estimated 2,615 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia. 

The province said Tuesday that 85.7 per cent of Nova Scotia's population has received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.6 per cent have had one dose.

There are two other groups of people in hospital related to COVID-19:

• 125 people who were identified as positive upon arrival at hospital but were admitted for another medical reason, or were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require specialized care.
• 162 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.