Jump to sections in this article:
Overview of today’s cases
Vaccination
Demographics
Testing
Potential exposure advisories
Nova Scotia announced 34 new cases of COVID-19 today, Wednesday, Dec. 8.
By Nova Scotia Health zone, the new cases break down as:
• 14 Eastern
• 13 Central
• 6 Northern
• 1 Western
Public Health notes that 21 people have tested positive related to the StFX outbreak (Antigonish is in the Eastern Zone). Today’s numbers included just 12 of those because the other 9 came in after the reporting deadline; they’ll be included in tomorrow’s numbers.
There are now 162 known active cases in the province. Eleven people are in hospital with the disease, four of whom are in ICU. Eighteen people are considered newly recovered, which means they are no longer contagious and not necessarily that they aren’t sick.
Vaccination
The reporting is catching up with large numbers of children who have been vaccinated and some cleaning up of other numbers. Yesterday, a whopping 16,717 doses of vaccine were newly reported:
• 8,628 first doses
• 2,212 second doses
• 5,877 third doses
In total, there have been 1,673,788 doses of vaccine administered, which break down as:
• 47,188 people with only the first dose
• 796,117 people with the second dose but not the third
• 34,366 people with three doses
By end of day yesterday, 86.9% of the entire population (including young children) have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 82.0% have received at least two doses. (Note that my calculation is considerably higher than the percentages relayed on the provincial COVID dashboard.)
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.
Demographics
Over the last two days there have been a total of 56 new cases. By age cohort, they are:
• 19 aged 0-11
• 2 aged 12-19
• 22 aged 20-39
• 7 aged 40-59
• 4 aged 60-79
• 0 aged 80+
The active cases across the province are distributed as follows:
Central Zone
• 69 in the Halifax Peninsula/Chebucto Community Health Network
• 13 in the Dartmouth/Southeastern Community Health Network
• 14 in the Bedford/Sackville Community Health Network
• 0 in the Eastern Shore/Musquodoboit Community Health Network
• 1 in the West Hants Community Health Network
• 7 not assigned to a Community Health Network
Total: 104
Eastern Zone
• 3 in the Cape Breton Community Health Network
• 1 in the Inverness, Victoria & Richmond Community Health Network
• 12 in the Antigonish & Guysborough Community Health Network
Total: 16
Northern Zone
• 17 in the Colchester/East Hants Community Health Network
• 6 in the Pictou Community Health Network
• 15 in the Cumberland Community Health Network
Total: 38
Western Zone
• 3 in the Annapolis and Kings Community Health Network
• 0 in the Lunenburg & Queens Community Health Network
• 1 in the Yarmouth, Shelburne & Digby Community Health Network
Total: 4
Testing
Nova Scotia Health labs completed 3,565 PCR tests yesterday. This does not include the antigen tests administered at the pop-up testing sites.
There is PCR testing at the Keating Centre (1100 Convocation Blvd, Antigonish) today, Wednesday, from 2-6pm, and tomorrow, Thursday, from 10am-3pm. Take-home antigen testing kits will also be available there.
You do not need a health card to get tested.
Pop-up testing (antigen testing) is for asymptomatic people over 16 who have not been to the potential COVID exposure sites (see map below); results usually within 20 minutes.
Pop-up testing has been scheduled for the following sites:
Wednesday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
Alderney Gate, 10am-2pmThursday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pmFriday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pmSaturday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
Alderney Gate, 10am-2pmSunday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
You can volunteer to work at the pop-up testing sites here or here. No medical experience is necessary.
You can also get PCR testing at the Nova Scotia Health labs by going here. Appointments can be made for the IWK, or for various locations in each of the health zones (appointments may not be available at each site).
Potential exposure advisories
One school-connected case notification was issued yesterday for:
• École Beaubassin
Additionally, Nova Scotia Health issued several potential COVID exposure advisories last night, with seven specific to the Antigonish area..
We’ve collected all the active advisories for potential COVID exposures on bus routes and flights here. I’ll be adding schools to the map tonight.
The updated potential COVID exposure advisory map is below; you can zoom in and click on the coronavirus icons to get information about each site.
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