Jump to sections in this article:
Overview of today’s cases
Vaccination
Demographics
Testing
Potential exposure advisories
Nova Scotia announced 586 new cases of COVID-19 today, Wednesday, Dec. 29.
By Nova Scotia Health zone, the new cases break down as:
• 393 Central
• 106 Eastern
• 56 Northern
• 31 Western
There is another case in the St. Martha’s Hospital outbreak, making a total of six patients having tested positive.
There are no new cases at the outbreaks in two Halifax Infirmary wards (one with six patients testing positive, the other with fewer than five). Likewise, there are no new cases in the Dartmouth General outbreak (fewer than five positive cases).
There are now an estimated 5,053 active cases in the province; 24 people are in hospital with the disease, three of whom are in ICU.
Vaccination
In the five days from Friday through Tuesday, 12,914 doses of vaccine were administered:
• 1,008 first doses
• 526 second doses
• 11,380 third doses
In total, there have been 1,776,330 doses of vaccine administered, which break down as:
• 67,233 people with only the first dose
• 673,479 people with the second dose but not the third
• 120,713 people with three doses
At end of day yesterday, 88.6% of the entire population have received at least one dose of vaccine:
• 6.9% with one dose only
• 69.3% with two doses but not three
• 12.4% with three doses
• 11.4% unvaccinated
Appointments for booster shots are now open to people 50 and over for whom 168 days have passed since their second shot.
Vaccination appointments for people 5 years of age and older can be booked here.
People in rural areas who need transportation to a vaccination appointment should contact Rural Rides, which will get you there and back home for just $5. You need to book the ride 24 hours ahead of time.
Testing
Nova Scotia Health labs completed 5,355 PCR tests yesterday, with a positivity rate of 10.9%. I realize everyone wants to know about the self-reporting of rapid test results, but I don’t have any info on that front.
The testing protocols have changed. Now, if you test positive with a rapid (antigen) test, you no longer will follow that up with a PCR test. Instead, you are assumed to definitely have COVID, and you and your household are to self-isolate as required.
But take-home rapid testing kits are no longer widely available.
Pop-up testing has been scheduled for the following sites (take-home tests are also available at these sites):
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
Alderney Gate, 10am-2pm
Bridgetown Volunteer Fire Department, 1-5pmThursday, Dec. 30
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pmFriday, Dec. 31
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-4pm
Alderney Gate, 10am-2pm
Chester Basin Volunteer Fire Department, 11am-5pmSaturday, Jan. 1
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-4pm
The province has announced that more pop-up testing sites will be established across the province, with details to be announced this week.
You can volunteer to work at the pop-up testing sites here or here. No medical experience is necessary.
Potential exposure advisories
School-connected case notifications have ended.
There were have been a few COVID exposure advisories.
We’ve collected all the active advisories for potential COVID exposures on bus routes and flights here.
You can zoom in and click on the icons on the map below to get information about each site.
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