10 New Hospital Admissions, Eight Discharges, One Death

Today, February 10, Nova Scotia is reporting 10 new hospital admissions and eight discharges.

Nova Scotia is also reporting one death related to COVID-19. A woman in her 80s in Central Zone has died.

“This pandemic has taken so much, but the families who will never see or hug their loved one again have suffered the most,” said Premier Tim Houston. “We’re starting to ease restrictions, but we still need to be cautious and take steps to protect ourselves and others. Please continue to follow the public health measures as we work towards living with COVID-19.”

There are 90 people in hospital who were admitted due to COVID-19 and are receiving specialized care in a COVID-19 designated unit. That includes 11 people in ICU. The age range of those in hospital is 0-95 years old. The median age is 65, and the median length of stay of people admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 is six days.

Starting today, to more accurately represent hospitalization data, the releases will use medians to report two figures: the length of stay and age of those in hospital. Previously, the mean, or average, was used to report this data. However, because some people are in hospital for a long stay, in some cases waiting to be discharged to another facility, using median is more accurate.

Of the 90 people in hospital, 87 were admitted during the Omicron wave.

“It’s never easy to hear we lost another Nova Scotian to this virus. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones grieving,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. “Trying to protect people is what we’ve been doing for two years and why we’ve had restrictions and rules that are frustrating but necessary. I am optimistic that things are improving and because of the hard work of Nova Scotians, I am confident about starting to loosen restrictions.”

The vaccination status of those in hospital is:

• 24 (26.7 per cent) people have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine
• 34 (37.8 per cent) are fully vaccinated (two doses)
• 0 (0 per cent) are partially vaccinated
• 32 (35.6 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:

• 129 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
• 143 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.

Vaccine Coverage:

As of February 9, 2,169,722 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 91.5 per cent of Nova Scotians have received their first dose, and 85.2 per cent have received their second dose.

As well, 59.2 per cent of Nova Scotians 18 and older have received a booster dose, and 2.4 per cent have booked a booster dose appointment.

Cases and Testing:

On February 9, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) labs completed 2,931 tests. An additional 365 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 are being reported.

There are 143 cases in Central Zone, 64 cases in Eastern Zone, 49 cases in Northern Zone and 109 cases in Western Zone.

As of today, there are an estimated 3,306 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.

Long-Term Care Outbreaks:

NSHA is reporting a new outbreak at Cumberland Regional Health Centre in Amherst. Fewer than five patients have tested positive. NSHA is also reporting additional cases related to the outbreaks in two hospitals:

• six additional patients in a ward at Digby General Hospital; a total of 14 patients have now tested positive
• two additional patients in a ward at Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow; a total of 10 patients have now tested positive.

The Province is reporting two outbreaks in long-term care facilities:

• three residents and one staff member have tested positive at Townsview Estates in Truro
• four residents and five staff members have tested positive at Bay Side Home in Barrington.

Public health is working with the facilities to prevent further spread. Increased public health measures and restrictions are in place.

Quick Facts:

• a state of emergency was declared under the Emergency Management Act on March 22, 2020, and has been extended to February 20, 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)