A backlog in Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 testing and data entry is almost cleared, and Premier Iain Rankin said there are signs the province’s lockdown measures are working.
“We’re catching up,” Rankin said of the backlog, which has resulted in exceptionally high COVID-19 case numbers in recent days.
There were 121 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Monday. It’s the first time since April 30, when 67 new cases were announced, that new case numbers have been this low.
“That number is still high, but obviously it’s starting to look a bit better,” said Rankin.
“This shutdown will work, and there are early signs already with our cases starting to come down. It is working.”
Ninety-four of the new cases are in the province’s central health zone, 16 are in the eastern health zone, six are in the western health zone and five are in the northern health zone.
Since yesterday, another eight people have been hospitalized with COVID-19. There are now 58 people in hospital, with nine in ICU.
Nova Scotia Health labs completed 5,021 tests on Sunday. There are now 1,655 active cases in the province.
Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said the number of close contacts of positive cases are going down substantially and he expects to see case numbers continue to trend downward.
While the numbers are encouraging, Nova Scotia isn’t out of the woods yet, he said.
“Remember the days in March when we had zero, one, two, three cases? We need to get back there before we can start to be reopening, and that’s going to take several weeks.”
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New ‘compassionate exemption’
New border measures came into effect this morning, barring all non-essential travel into the province, including people intending to move to Nova Scotia, and requiring rotational workers returning home from outbreak zones to self-isolate for 14 days.
Rankin clarified some of those measures on Monday, saying he has heard of people who have already sold their homes and are unable to move here.
“We recognize there needs to be some flexibility around previously agreed upon dates, and we don’t want you to be homeless, quite frankly,” he said.
He said the province has opened up a compassionate exemption application to help process “these very specific cases.”
People can apply for an exemption if they have:
- A purchase or sale agreement for a property purchase showing an offer was accepted on or before April 21, with a closing date of on or before May 20.
- A minimum one-year lease signed on or before April 21 and beginning on or before May 20.
- A letter of acceptance for new employment dated on or before May 7 for a job that cannot be done virtually or deferred.
People who move to Nova Scotia under these exemptions are still required to self-isolate for 14 days.
Money for food banks
Rankin also said the province will invest $1.3 million into Feed Nova Scotia, smaller food banks and charities, and family resources across the province.
Feed Nova Scotia will get $1 million to support its member organizations and their COVID-19 food box program.
Family resource centres will get $200,000 to provide food-related support for families they serve, and the remaining $100,000 will go to smaller food banks not included in the Feed Nova Scotia networks, including United Way in Cape Breton.
“Hopefully this helps with Nova Scotians challenged to find food, and you can call 211 for assistance,” said Rankin.
Update on vaccines
As of Sunday, 366,089 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including 37,699 second doses.
Dr. Strang said he expects vaccines may open up to people age 40 to 44 in the next few days.
“When we have availability, we will open up, but we always do it in a very staged manner,” said Strang, to guarantee they will have vaccines available.
He said the province has a very small amount of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine left and it hasn’t received confirmation that the province will receive more.
Addressing safety concerns around that vaccine, he said the province will discuss continuing to use it, but at this point, there’s no guarantee they’ll receive more doses.
Currently, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available for Nova Scotians aged 45 and older, while the AstraZeneca vaccine is available for people aged 40 to 64.
Nova Scotia Health cases
In a release Monday, Nova Scotia’s health authority said as of 12 p.m., there are currently 12 active cases of COVID-19 among their staff members.
Nova Scotia Health said they have had a total of 26 cases among staff, 14 of whom have recovered.
Twenty-three health-care workers are in isolation as a result of these workplace cases, and a further 94 staff members are in isolation because they have symptoms or they were at a place with an exposure notification.
“This number fluctuates daily as staff self-report their isolation through occupational health and safety phone lines,” the release said.
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