COVID-19: N.S. reports 20 new cases, 34 recoveries Friday

Nova Scotia reported 20 new cases of COVID-19 and 34 recoveries on Friday.

There are 12 cases in the Central Zone and eight cases in the Northern Zone.

“There is a cluster of cases in a localized community in Northern Zone, and there is also evidence of limited community spread in Halifax and parts of northern Nova Scotia,” said the province in a release.

On Dec. 2, one school was notified of a COVID-19 exposure. A full list of schools with exposures can be found here.

As of Friday, Nova Scotia has 199 active cases of COVID-19. Of those, 13 people are in hospital, including five in ICU.

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There were 33,983 rapid tests administered between November 26 and December 2. This includes 1,236 rapid tests at the pop-up sites in Halifax, Dartmouth, Bridgetown, Digby, Stewiacke, Weymouth and Springhill and 32,747 through the workplace screening program.

Another 9,118 home rapid tests were distributed at the pop-up sites.

Nova Scotia Health labs completed 3,895 tests the day before.

As of Thursday, 1,646,458 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 793,402 Nova Scotians have received their second dose, and 26,757 eligible Nova Scotians have received a third dose.

Since Aug. 1, there have been 2,485 positive COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths. There are 2,270 resolved cases.

COVID-19 vaccination

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is now strongly recommending adults ages 50 years and older should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, while 18-49 year-olds may be offered a booster shot.

In a statement, the province said it is “prepared to move quickly to adopt their recommendations and will have more information on Nova Scotia’s implementation of the recommendations to share next week.”

Nova Scotia is reporting high rates of COVID-19 vaccination for employees under both the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for key sectors and the provincial vaccine mandate for civil servants.

According to the province, under the key sectors mandate, of those reporting, 99.2 per cent of 58,519 frontline workers in healthcare, continuing care, emergency health services, education and other sectors that work with vulnerable Nova Scotians have at least one dose of vaccine, and 97.0 per cent are fully vaccinated. There are 1,923 people still to report for various reasons.

There are 960 employees, or 1.3 per cent of the full workforce in those sectors, now on unpaid leave because they are not vaccinated or did not report their vaccine status.

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Among civil servants who have reported their vaccination status, 99.1 per cent have at least one dose, and 97.2 per cent are fully vaccinated. There are 621 employees still to report for various reasons; most of them are currently on approved leaves of absence.

There are 93 civil servants now on unpaid leave because they are not vaccinated or didn’t report their vaccine status.

The following have vaccination rates above 99 per cent:

• Nova Scotia Health Authority – 99.6
• IWK Health Centre – 99.2
• Education – 99.0
• Correctional Services – 99.6
• Emergency Health Services – 99.4
• Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia – 99.4

The province also released its weekly update on vaccination rates among cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

There have been 98 cases of COVID-19 with an episode date between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2. Of those:

• 34 (34.7 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 2 (2.0 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 62 (63.3 per cent) were unvaccinated.

There have been 6,683 cases from March 15 to Dec. 2. Of those:

• 716 (10.7 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 405 (6.1 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 5,562 (83.2 per cent) were unvaccinated.

There were 336 people hospitalized. Of those:

• 22 (6.5 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 33 (9.8 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 281 (83.6 per cent) were unvaccinated.

Forty-four people died. Of those:

• 11 (25.0 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 3 (6.8 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 30 (68.2 per cent) were unvaccinated.