123 New Cases of COVID-19, 16 Recoveries, State of Emergency Renewed

NOTE: Nova Scotia is not issuing COVID-19 news releases or updating the COVID-19 data dashboard on weekends. Monday updates will include weekend data.

Today, December 10, Nova Scotia is reporting 123 new cases of COVID-19 and 16 recoveries.

There are 56 cases in Central Zone, 60 cases in Eastern Zone, 6 cases in Northern Zone, and one case in Western Zone.

Because of the outbreak at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, beginning today, the number of positive cases using lab results, not Panorama results, will be reported to better reflect the situation on the ground. The results will continue to be reported by zone.

Public health notes that some cases associated with this outbreak are being counted in Central Zone because of the address on the student’s health card. That is why not all of these cases are reflected in the Eastern Zone numbers.

Those infected in the outbreak are experiencing relatively mild symptoms and the cases are mostly young people who are fully vaccinated.

Because of the spike in testing and positive cases, public health is experiencing some delays in follow up. People whose lab test is positive will continue to receive an initial contact from public health within 24 hours and they will be provided information on required isolation and testing plus asked to contact their close contacts. Detailed follow-ups are being prioritized and may be delayed. Public health will continue to support contact tracing in schools, long-term care, correctional facilities, shelters and other settings.

Due to this outbreak, all close contacts, including those who are fully vaccinated, now need to isolate until they have a negative result from a lab-based (PCR) test. The lab test should be performed at least 72 hours after the exposure. Public health strongly recommends regular rapid testing for all Nova Scotians.

It is important that people who test positive with a rapid test self-isolate and get a lab test regardless of vaccination status. If that confirmatory test is negative, they may stop isolating if they have no symptoms. If they have symptoms and the PCR test is negative, they should repeat the test. Testing has been increased in the Antigonish area, including extended hours at the testing centre and mobile units have been deployed. Testing locations in Antigonish this weekend can be found at https://www.nshealth.ca/news/public-health-mobile-unit-providing-covid-19-testing-st-fx-university-weekend

On December 9, four schools were notified of an exposure(s) at the school. As always, all staff, parents and guardians are notified of exposures if a positive case (student, teacher or staff) was at the school while infectious. A list of schools with exposures is available online: https://backtoschool.ednet.ns.ca/school-exposures .

There have been 126 cases of COVID-19 with an episode date between December 2 and December 9. Of those:

• 61 (48.4 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 6 (4.8 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 59 (46.8 per cent) were unvaccinated

There have been 6,853 cases from March 15 to December 9. Of those:

• 776 (11.3 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 420 (6.1 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 5,657 (82.5 per cent) were unvaccinated

There were 341 people hospitalized. Of those:

• 23 (6.7 per cent) were fully vaccinated
• 33 (9.7 per cent) were partially vaccinated
• 285 (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

There were 44,341 rapid tests administered between December 3 and 9. This includes 2,091 rapid tests at the pop-up sites in Halifax, Dartmouth, and Tantallon and 42,250 through the workplace screening program. Another 17,314 home rapid tests were distributed at the pop-up sites.

On December 9, Nova Scotia Health Authority’s labs completed 4,730 tests.

As of December 9, 1,671,588 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 790,288 Nova Scotians have received their second dose, and 40,860 eligible Nova Scotians have received a third dose.

Since August 1, there have been 2,695 positive COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths. Cases range in age from under 10 to over 90. There are 2,442 resolved cases. Cumulative cases may change as data is updated in Panorama.

The Province is renewing the state of emergency to protect the health and safety of Nova Scotians and ensure safety measures and other important actions can continue. The order will take effect at noon, Sunday, December 12, and extend to noon, Sunday, December 26, unless the government terminates or extends it.

Testing advice:

Symptoms and self-assessment:

Regardless of your vaccination status, anyone with symptoms should immediately self-isolate and visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/ to do a self-assessment and book a COVID-19 test if in the past 48 hours they have had or are currently experiencing:

• cough (new or worsening)

Or two or more of the following symptoms:

• fever (chills, sweats)
• headache
• runny nose or nasal congestion
• sore throat
• shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

People should call 811 if they cannot access the online self-assessment or wish to speak with a nurse about their symptoms.

Testing advice for people without symptoms:

People who do not have symptoms and should get tested are listed at https://www.nshealth.ca/visit-covid-19-testing-site. People who do not meet this criteria can get a rapid test at a pop-up site or a mobile unit. Locations are listed at https://www.nshealth.ca/coronavirus/covid-19-rapid-testing.

People who were advised by public health that they were a close contact may need to self-isolate. Information about self-isolation requirements for different situations is at https://www.nshealth.ca/what-do-i-need-know-about-covid-19-self-isolation.

Quick Facts:

• a state of emergency was declared under the Emergency Management Act on March 22, 2020, and has been extended to December 26, 2021

Additional Resources:

Nova Scotians can find accurate, up-to-date information, handwashing posters and fact sheets at: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus

More information on COVID-19 case data, testing and vaccines is available at: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/data/

More information about public health text notifications of positive COVID-19 cases and close contacts is available here: https://www.nshealth.ca/news/public-health-begins-contacting-positive-covid-19-cases-close-contacts-text-message

Government of Canada: https://canada.ca/coronavirus or 1-833-784-4397 (toll-free)