Houston, Strang to give N.S. COVID-19 update at 3 p.m. AT

Nova Scotia reported 1 death, 13 new hospital admissions and 8 discharges on Tuesday

CBC News ·

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health, will give an update about COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon.

The news conference will be live streamed here at 3 p.m. AT.

On Tuesday, Nova Scotia reported one additional death from COVID-19 and said 73 people are receiving specialized care in a designated hospital unit because of the coronavirus, including 15 who are in intensive care.

The person who died was a woman in her 80s from the eastern zone.

Less than 10 per cent of Nova Scotians are unvaccinated, according to provincial statistics. More than 83 per cent of Nova Scotians have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 90.6 per cent have received at least one dose, as of Monday.

Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about four times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing the daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.

Rapid test kits at schools

Students returned to in-class learning this week. In a news release Wednesday, Elwin LeRoux, executive director of the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, said schools have a supply of COVID-19 rapid test kits available for students and staff.

More kits are expected to be available starting next week. The kits are available for staff and students who develop symptoms.

Parents are also asked to complete a daily COVID-19 checklist before sending kids to school.

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• Newfoundland and Labrador reported two deaths on Tuesday. The were 14 people in hospital with three in ICU. On Tuesday, the province’s health department reported 295 new cases for a total of 3,166 active cases.
• Prince Edward Island reported eight people in hospital, four of whom are in ICU, on Tuesday. There were also 407 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 2,214 active cases.
• New Brunswick reported three deaths and 113 hospitalizations Tuesday, including 15 people in ICU. The province reported 330 new cases on Tuesday for a total of 4,568 active cases.