The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free.
Another resident of the Northwood nursing home in Halifax died with COVID-19. That person is the sixth to die at Northwood with the disease, and the 10th to die in the province.
Also, yesterday another 16 people in Nova Scotia tested positive for the disease, bringing the total to 737 cases. Eleven people are in hospital, three of whom are in ICU.
Additionally, 190 people (128 residents and 62 staff) associated with 10 nursing homes have COVID-19.
The good news is that another 38 people have fully recovered, bringing the total numbered of recovered cases to 268.
Total and recovered cases of COVID-19 in NS by date
That means that the number of active cases — the total number of positive test results minus the number of people who have recovered or died — has taken a significant dip, from 464 Sunday to 441 yesterday.
Active cases by date
I don’t know how much we can read into that, however, because while the number of recovered people exceeded the number newly tested positive yesterday, the number of tests with confirmed results also dropped, to just 437. The daily press release from the Department of Health says that 516 tests were performed yesterday, but as I explained here, the sum of the number of tests performed in any given day won’t equal the number of those tests with confirmed results.
Number of tests daily with confirmed results
I don’t know why the number of tests has dropped. If I had to guess, it’s because some of the testing equipment has been moved to Northwood, and so there is less capacity back in the QE2 lab.
In any event, despite the sad news of the tenth death, because of the high number of people who recovered yesterday, the fatality rate has decreased a bit, from 3.5% to 3.4%.
Fatality rate of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia 1
Number of cases by Nova Scotia Health Authority zone
Percentage of cases by gender
58% are female; 42% are male
The Halifax Examiner is an advertising-free, subscriber-supported news site. Your subscription makes this work possible; please subscribe.
Some people have asked that we additionally allow for one-time donations from readers, so we’ve created that opportunity, via the PayPal button below. We also accept e-transfers, cheques, and donations with your credit card; please contact iris “at” halifaxexaminer “dot” ca for details.
Thank you!
Notes:
- of cases with resolution — that is, people have either recovered or died, so does not include those who are still sick ↩
Hi Tim, keep in mind that most people that have been infected by the virus do get better. It takes about 14 days for patients with mild to moderate symptoms to recover. So looking back at the cases in Nova Scotia, two weeks ago there were about 300 cases – most of them who should be getting healthy and removed from the active case list. This would lead one to expect another jump in the number of recovered in tomorrow’s update and for each and every day in the coming two weeks. This anticipated healing will have a major impact on the shape of the curve of active cases by its balancing of additional newly identified cases. Paul