Nova Scotia is reporting a child under the age of five is among the 60 people currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, as the province’s top doctor warns those who underestimate the Omicron variant are “absolutely wrong.”
An additional 134 people in hospital have tested positive for the virus, including those who either contracted it after admission or tested positive prior to admission for another reason.
There was also a death related to COVID-19 reported, involving a woman in her 60s in Western Zone.
During a briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Robert Strang said Nova Scotia is in the middle of the peak of the Omicron wave and there will be “some challenging days ahead” in terms of a strained health-care system.
He added that there are “much higher daily case counts than is sustainable over the long term.”
On any given day, he said, there are between 500 and 700 Nova Scotia Health (NSH) workers isolating due to COVID-19 protocols. NSH further updated the situation to say 120 scheduled surgeries and 30 endoscopy or gastroenterology procedures were postponed last week. More surgeries have been cancelled for this week.
“If you don’t think Omicron is a big deal you’re absolutely wrong,” he said.
“There’s no doubt we are in a very serious situation — the most serious we’ve been in during this entire pandemic.”
Of the 60 people who were admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 complications, five are in ICU. A quarter of patients are unvaccinated and the average hospital stay is 5.8 days.
While the province didn’t provide further details about the child hospitalized with COVID-19, including an exact age, a news release indicated the age range of those in hospital is 0 to 100. The average age of patients is 66.
The province provided further data, adding that there are 134 other people currently in hospital with COVID-19:
- 40 people who were admitted for another medical reason but tested positive on admission, or people who were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require “specialized care.”
- 94 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital
Schools reopening Monday
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During the conference, Premier Tim Houston maintained that public schools will indeed re-open next Monday for in-class learning as scheduled.
He added that the HEPA ventilation systems for 71 schools that required them are now on the ground, and will be installed by the time students arrive.
Houston said while the systems were not a necessity, they were part of a layered approach that are “above and beyond” because of concerns about school ventilation.
“For me personally, we know that these machines will give people a lot of confidence and we know that they’ll do their job to increase the safety of people,” he said.
“I am happy that we were able to work with suppliers and the team was able to make this happen so quickly.”
As well, three-ply masks will be made available to teachers and students.
The province has distributed 25,000 rapid tests to nearly 400 schools based on enrolment numbers, he said, but their use will be limited to those who are symptomatic.
He repeated the assertion that schools are the best place for children, and that they are “where many children are warmest,” and that “many children get their food at school.”
But he also said outbreaks are expected.
“Our schools are safe, we’ll move forward. I think we’ve shown that where necessary to close a school, we will,” he told reporters.
“If there’s operational issues or issues with outbreaks, we will take steps to close schools. And we expect that that will have to happen.”
Testing strategy change
Both Strang and Houston highlighted the need to change the province’s rapid testing strategy because of supply issues.
Houston said the province is currently distributing 830,000 tests per week to testing centres, outbreak response, Nova Scotia Health workplaces, and other high-risk work areas.
“It’s not the time for everyone to test every day or every week. There was a time for that but that time has passed,” he said.
The province is expecting 3.6 million tests from the federal government this month, but shipping timelines are constantly changing. Strang called the province’s current supply “precarious.”
“Given the amount of virus that is circulating in our province, we can no longer identify or need to identify every single case of COVID,” he added.
“We need to use rapid tests more efficiently and equitably.”
Currently, Nova Scotians have to book an appointment to pick up a rapid test and only those who fulfill certain requirements – such as being part of a vulnerable population – are eligible.
“This is the reality of dealing with limited supply and while you may not be happy about this, we all need you to understand and accept that others may have to be a higher priority than ourselves,” said Strang.
New cases
Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) labs completed 5,132 tests on Tuesday.
From those results, 837 new positive cases were identified.
There were 500 cases in Central Zone, 109 cases in Eastern Zone, 106 cases in Northern Zone and 122 cases in Western Zone.
The province said there is an estimated 6,867 active cases.
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