N.S. reports 1 COVID-19 death Friday; 99 people in designated hospital units
The province reported a man in his 70s in the central zone has died
Nova Scotia reported one death and 99 patients in designated hospital units on Friday.
A man in his 70s in the central zone has died, according to a release from the province.
Those in hospital include 15 people in intensive care.
"We have suffered significant loss of life in the last week," Premier Tim Houston said in a statement. "My sincere condolences to the 15 families who have lost loved ones."
Nova Scotia has recorded 158 deaths related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The province's health authority has reported some hospitals are exceeding their patient capacity and have occasionally had no room for new admissions.
The system's overall capacity was at 104 per cent on Tuesday. The province said pressure from COVID-19 patients led to one emergency department closing on Monday.
The age range of those in hospital is between two and 95, with an average age of 66. The average amount of time people are spending in hospital is 7.9 days.
The vaccination status of those in hospital is:
- 25 people have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
- 44 are fully vaccinated (two doses).
- 1 is partially vaccinated.
- 29 are unvaccinated.
Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing the daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.
Nova Scotia labs completed 3,204 tests on Thursday and an additional 594 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported.
There are 245 cases in central zone, 116 cases in eastern zone, 104 cases in northern zone and 129 cases in western zone.
The province estimates there are 3,769 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
Limits increase for practices and rehearsals
Starting Monday, the province will ease restrictions on the number of people able to attend sports practices and arts and culture rehearsals.
Practices and rehearsals will be allowed to have up to 25 people indoors and 50 outdoors, However, gatherings of multiple groups, games and performances are still restricted. Also, no spectators will be allowed.
All other restrictions will remain in place until Feb.14.
Atlantic Canada case numbers
- Prince Edward Island reported one death and 10 people in hospital Friday, with one in ICU.
- New Brunswick reported one death and 162 hospitalizations Friday, including 17 in ICU with nine people on ventilators.
- Newfoundland and Labrador reported 20 people in hospital on Friday, including eight in the ICU.