COVID-19 : 14 deaths reported this week

This week’s report covers a six-day period from April 6 to April 11

CITYnewshalifax \ Canadian Press

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HALIFAX — The continued rise in new COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia is, “frankly, not a surprise,” Dr. Robert Strang said during Thursday’s virtual briefing.

Health officials, Strang said, expected cases to rise because of the Omicron subvariant BA.2. “I am fairly confident this surge has been driven, at least in part, by the current and highly contagious BA.2 variant,” he told reporters in Halifax.

Officials on Thursday reported 6,912 newly identified infections, 14 deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, and 72 new COVID-19 hospitalizations over a six-day period. The new report, spanning April 5-11, shows an average of 1,152 new daily COVID-19 cases compared to an average of 998 new daily cases the week before.

The chief medical officer says he highly encourages masking, particularly in indoor public spaces where physical distancing isn’t possible. When asked why he hasn’t extended the provincewide mask mandate, Strang said it’s not up to him.

“I strongly recommend people continue to wear masks,” he said. “It’s elected government, not myself as a public health official, who makes those public health decisions.”

Masking is only mandatory in certain limited indoor settings, such as schools and health-care facilities. This week, the mask mandate in schools was extended until at least May 20.

There are currently 613 Nova Scotia Health staff members off work because they have either contracted COVID-19 or have been a close contact of a positive case.

Occupancy in both acute and intensive care beds remains high, “often exceeding 100 per cent,” Nova Scotia Health spokesperson Carla Adams said in an email. “This means patients may have long waits for admission to a hospital bed after receiving care in an emergency department,” she said.

Strang on Thursday repeated his call for Nova Scotians to get their booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. He said there are “still a lot of people” in the 18- to 58-year-old age group who haven’t yet signed up for a booster, without specifying how many.

A third shot lowers someone’s risk of hospitalization by more than 83 per cent compared to someone with one or no doses of vaccine,” Strang said. The risk of death drops by more than 91 per cent, he added.

Premier Tim Houston said Thursday at the Legislature he’s concerned about the low uptake of booster shots and his team will look at what more they can do to encourage people to make vaccine appointments. He said he’s “happy to look at ramping up” public messaging and vaccine promotion campaigns.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2022.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press