16 New Hospital Admissions, Five Discharges, Three Deaths

Today, January 26, Nova Scotia is reporting 16 new hospital admissions and five discharges.

Nova Scotia is also reporting three deaths related to COVID-19:

• a woman in her 80s in Central Zone
• a man in his 80s in Central Zone
• a man in his 90s in Eastern Zone.

There are 91 people in hospital who were admitted due to COVID-19 and are receiving specialized care in a COVID-19 designated unit. That includes 15 people in ICU. The age range of those in hospital is 6-100 years old. The average age is 67, and the average length of stay of people admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 is 7.3 days.

Of the 91 people in hospital, 88 were admitted during the Omicron wave.

The vaccination status of those in hospital is:

• 18 (19.8 per cent) people have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine
• 53 (58.2 per cent) are fully vaccinated (two doses)
• 3 (3.3 per cent) are partially vaccinated
• 17 (18.7 per cent) are unvaccinated.

It is important to note that less than 10 per cent of Nova Scotians are unvaccinated.

There are also two other groups of people in hospital related to COVID-19:

• 100 people who were identified as positive upon arrival at hospital but were admitted for another medical reason, or were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require specialized care
• 121 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.

Vaccine Coverage:

As of January 25, 2,064,132 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 91 per cent of Nova Scotians have received their first dose, and 83.4 per cent have received their second dose.

As well, 46.8 per cent of Nova Scotians 18 and older have received a booster dose, and seven per cent have booked a booster dose appointment.

Cases and Testing:

On January 25, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) labs completed 3,602 tests. An additional 346 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 are being reported.

There are 164 cases in Central Zone, 56 cases in Eastern Zone, 35 cases in Northern Zone and 91 cases in Western Zone.

As of today, there are an estimated 4,353 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.

Hospital Outbreaks:

NSHA is reporting three new outbreaks in hospitals, at:

• Halifax Infirmary site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre
• Victoria General site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre
• Digby General Hospital.

Fewer than five patients at each facility have tested positive.

NSHA is also reporting additional cases related to the outbreaks in two hospitals:

• one additional patient in a ward at Cape Breton Regional Hospital; fewer than 10 patients have tested positive
• one additional patient in a ward at the Abbie J. Lane Memorial building of the QEII Health Sciences Centre; fewer than 10 patients have tested positive.

Quick Facts:

• a state of emergency was declared under the Emergency Management Act on March 22, 2020, and has been extended to February 6, 2022

Additional Resources:

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

Information on provincewide restrictions that took effect December 22 and other public health measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19 is available at: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/restrictions-and-guidance/

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-notifying-positive-covid-19-cases-text-advising-notify-close-contacts

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