COVID-19: N.S. reporting 99 cases over 4 days, more school exposures

Nova Scotia is reporting 99 new COVID-19 cases and 130 recoveries over a four-day period during the Thanksgiving Day long weekend.

Of those cases, 86 are in Central Zone, six are in Western Zone, four are in Northern Zone and three are in Eastern Zone.

Public Health continues to say there is community spread in Central Zone, “primarily among people aged 20 to 40 who are unvaccinated and participating in social activities.”

There are now 197 active cases. Of those, 15 people are in hospital, including two patients in ICU.

As well, over the past four days, eight schools were notified about an exposure.

They are:

• École Beaubassin, Halifax
• École Mer et Monde, Halifax
• Halifax West High, Halifax
• Checbucto Heights Elementary, Halifax
• Dartmouth South Academy, Dartmouth (x2)
• Ian Forsyth Elementary, Dartmouth
• Seaside Elementary, Eastern Passage
• Joseph Howe Elementary, Halifax

Some of these schools have had previous cases over the past few days, including École Mer et Monde, Halifax West High, and Joseph Howe Elementary.

Duc d’Anville Elementary in Halifax’s Clayton Park neighbourhood is closed beginning Tuesday, after a rash of cases at the school. 

In an email to families Friday, principal Adam Griffin said the school would move to at-home learning and Public Health would be deploying its mobile testing unit in the community.

“This is due to the ongoing number of COVID-19 cases connected to our school,” Griffin wrote.

2:01 Clayton Park school temporarily closing due to COVID-19

A negative COVID-19 test will be required to return to school on Oct. 18, the letter stated.

Nova Scotia Health Authority’s labs completed 4,138 tests on Oct. 8, 3,275 tests on Oct. 9, 2,497 tests on Oct. 10, and 2,334 tests on Oct. 11.

According to the province’s data dashboard, 76.1 per cent of the entire population is fully vaccinated, while another 5.5 per cent has had a first dose.