COVID-19: Nova Scotia announces 90 new cases, recoveries doubling that

Nova Scotia continues to record a slight drop in daily COVID-19 cases — with 90 reported across the province on Tuesday.

There have been 180 recoveries over the past day as well.

The bulk of the new cases are in the Central Zone — with 64. Eastern Zone saw 17, Northern Zone had seven and Western Zone reported two cases.

“I am pleased that the number of recoveries remains substantially higher than the number of new cases,” said Premier Iain Rankin in a release.

“If we continue to follow public health restrictions, we will get through this third wave together.”

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This brings the number of active cases in the province to 1,345.

There are 103 people in hospital, which is eight more than Monday. Twenty-five of those patients are in an ICU.

So far, 436,054 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province, and more than 70,000 Nova Scotians are scheduled to receive a shot this week.

“When you are eligible to book your vaccine, please do so, and when you get your first dose, encourage your friends and family to get theirs, too. Let’s be a part of the way forward,” said Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, in the release.

Close contacts will temporarily stop receiving calls at end of isolation

Nova Scotia Health says public health will temporarily stop calling close contacts of confirmed cases at the end of their 14-day self-isolation.

Typically, when a close contact — in other words, someone who had a lengthy exposure to a person diagnosed with COVID-19 without physical distancing or masks — has finished their 14-day self-isolation and completed their required testing, Public Health would call to confirm they can “return to normal life, as long as they have no symptoms.”

“With the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia, there are now several thousand close contacts who have completed their self-isolation and are awaiting a call back,” the news release reads.

“Public Health continues to focus efforts on the investigation of new cases and their contacts and does not currently have the capacity to make this volume of calls.”

That means close contacts can consider their self-isolation complete if:

• They have completed their full 14 days of self-isolation. Each person would have been given a self-isolation end date by Public Health (isolation ends at 11:59 p.m. on that date) AND
• They have completed all required testing AND
• They have not been re-exposed to COVID-19 AND
• They have no COVID-19 symptoms

Funding for mental health

The provincial government also announced Tuesday it is providing more than $850,000 of federal Safe Restart funding to 28 community organizations for mental health support.

The groups receiving grants are:

• Health Association of African Canadians, $200,000
• Canadian Mental Health Association – Nova Scotia Division, $80,000
• The Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Autism Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Reachability, $25,000
• Caregivers Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Prescott Group, $25,000
• Inclusion Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Mawita’mk Society, $25,000
• Canadian Association of Community Living (Antigonish), $25,000
• Vison Loss Rehabilitation, $25,000
• Canadian Council of the Blind (Nova Scotia Chapters), $25,000
• New Dawn Enterprises, $25,000
• Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, $50,000
• Antigonish Women’s Centre and Sexual Assault Services Association, $25,000
• La Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse, $25,000
• Elizabeth Fry, $15,000
• From the Ground Up, $10,000
• 7th Step, $10,000
• Nova Scotia Community Links, $25,000
• Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Eating Disorders Nova Scotia, $25,000
• Laing House, $25,000
• Youth Project, $25,000
• MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning, $25,000
• Healthy Minds Cooperative, $10,000
• The Public Good Society, $15,000
• Heartwood, $15,000

2:02 COVID-19 vaccine rollout progresses but increased hospitalization still a concern