Nova Scotia Public Health is reporting one new case of the coronavirus on Monday.
The province says the case is located in the Central Zone and is a close contact of a previously reported case.
On Sunday, three cases in the Central Zone were reported and the sources were under investigation.
The province said 16 cases of COVID-19 remain active.
Clayton Park COVID-19 cluster
Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer, said in a Monday provincial update that Public Health has identified a linked cluster in Clayton Park.
Strang says a mobile testing unit is being deployed to test all possible close contacts of the social group. To date, nine people have been identified.
Public Health is working to identify the source of infection within the cluster and how it spread, he said.
In addition, nearly a dozen potential exposure locations were identified in Halifax last week.
At three locations, Public Health has gathered enough information to determine testing is needed for anyone present at the time of potential exposure, said Strang.
The locations of concern include:
- Bitter End on Nov. 2, between 9 p.m. and close
- Montana’s BBQ and Bar in Bayers Lake, on Oct. 25, from 6 p.m. to close
- All Nations Full Gospel Church on Oct. 25. at 6 p.m.
Strang says eight cases were connected to one of those locations.
However, Strang says he is not ready to declare a general community spread yet, as all the cases to date have been linked to the cluster. He points to a difference between community exposure and community spread, but says spread cannot be ruled out either.
Over the weekend, Public Health advised those who attended the three locations at the times of potential exposure to contact 811 and get tested. But a lack of communication with 811 led to some callers being turned away.
Weekend 811 ‘miscommunication’ resolved
Haligonian Ava Coulter was at the Bitter End that Monday night and tells Global News she was first told she didn’t need to get tested.
When the exposure notice first came out last Thursday, she immediately called 811 to arrange for testing.
Coulter says she had a couple of symptoms that were listed on the website, including headaches and confusion. Coulter says the nurse didn’t recognize those symptoms.
In the provincial self-assessment, the first prompt asks whether a person is experiencing feeling confused among other things. Headaches are on the N.S. list of symptoms.
In addition, Coulter says she told the nurse she’s responding to the potential exposure release and the nurse had not heard of it before.
“The nurse at 811 started to dismiss it as sort of falsehoods being spread by the media. So I had to be the one to sort of self-advocate and tell the nurse that, no, it’s actually on the Nova Scotia health website,” Coulter said.
“What’s concerning about that is that they could have turned the other people away who maybe didn’t check the website or didn’t self-advocate and just took the nurse’s word for it.”
After a second release regarding the potential exposure at Bitter End was released on Sunday, Coulter called 811 again and arranged for testing with a different nurse.
“I just think that it’s really important for there to be clear communication between Nova Scotia Health and 811, especially if they’re going to make an advisory saying that people need to call 811, she said.”
In Monday’s update, Strang said he is aware of the incident and that the issue has been resolved.
“I do know that there was some confusion on the weekend for people seeing these notices and calling 811. We had thought that communication had happened with 811, it wasn’t clear,” Strang said.
“That miscommunication has been resolved. So if people did call over the weekend and were told they didn’t need testing, we’re asking them if they have the right exposure, call back 811, you will make an arrangement to have testing for you now.”
Coulter said while she’s glad the miscommunication was cleared up, she is still concerned about the first nurse not being aware of the full list of symptoms.
She said on Monday that she is happy to report her test came back negative.
Ramped up testing, stricter COVID-19 measures
Strang says Public Health is working on making testing easier and faster for those responding to potential exposure advisories and those linked to the Clayton Park cluster.
He said he encourages those who are known to be close contacts, or who test positive, to be honest with Public Health about their social interactions.
“We’re not here to judge, we’re just here to help people.”
In addition to ramping up testing in Clayton Park, Nova Scotia is introducing stricter measures in response to COVID-19.
The province said that if a person travelling for non-essential reasons enters Nova Scotia from outside Atlantic Canada, everyone in the home where they are self-isolating will have to self-isolate as well.
Nobody in that home can leave the property for 14 days and they cannot have visitors, the province said.
Nova Scotians are also being advised to avoid non-essential travel into and out of Atlantic Canada.
Premier Stephen McNeil closed Monday’s COVID-19 update by advising residents to take precautions against community spread.
“Start caring about what really matters: each other.”
As of Monday, Nova Scotia has 16 active cases of COVID-19.
To date, the province has confirmed 1,129 cases of the virus. Of those, 1,048 cases are considered resolved.
There have also been 65 deaths in the province as a result of COVID-19.
Nova Scotia has completed 117,623 negative test results in total.
Comments