Nova Scotia is reporting a single case of COVID-19 Monday, after conducting a record-breaking number of tests over the weekend.
The new case is in Central Zone, and is considered a close contact of a previously-reported case. This brings the province’s active cases to 35, with two people hospitalized in ICU.
Health care workers and volunteers were flat out over the weekend, swabbing more than 25,000 Nova Scotians after a push from public health urging those without COVID symptoms to get tested.
“Everybody was pitching in to get the work done,” said primary assessment clinic manager, Lynn Malloy.
“Our volume here at the multi-purpose centre quadrupled and with the help of firefighters we were able to effectively swab well over 800 both Saturday and Sunday.”
The province says more tests were completed between Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 than for the entire H1N1 pandemic in 2009. More than 12,000 swabs were collected at primary assessment centres, while mobile testing units and rapid testing accounted for more than 7,500 swabs.
Capt. Kevin Corkum with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency was one of the firefighters who volunteered to help with the high volume of testing.
“The clinical educator trains us, brings us up to speed on any changes and then we hit the floor for testing,” he said.
Halifax Shipyard resuming production after negative tests
Irving Shipbuilding says it will be resuming production at its Halifax Shipyard on March 2 with its day shift, after testing at the site produced all negative results.
Production was shut down after an employee tested positive on Feb. 25.
Irving says it completed a “comprehensive testing program” and has consulted with Nova Scotia Public Health.
“We wish to thank Nova Scotia Public Health, our employees and our union leadership for a tremendous effort regarding the coordination and safe execution of such a large undertaking in such a short time frame,” the company said in a statement.
Vaccination booking portal shut down briefly on first day
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s vaccination booking portal was mired with technical issues when it launched Monday morning.
The immunization booking service, CanImmunize, said it was investigating the cause of the slowdown after alerting the Department of Health and Wellness of the extremely high traffic on the vaccination booking site.
The site as disabled temporarily, and back on-line by 4:30 p.m.
People can also book by phone at 1-833-797-7772, but the department warned that call volumes are high and people will have to wait.
Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is expanding this month with 10 community-based clinics for Nova Scotians age 80 and older, according to the province.
To launch the clinics, MSI has sent letters to all Nova Scotians who are age 80 and older as of March 1 to book their vaccine appointment.
— With files from Alexa MacLean