Still uncertain about how many positive cases are backlogged, Nova Scotia announced 165 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, May 9

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Overview
Demographics
Testing
Vaccination
Schools
Potential exposure advisories

One-hundred-and-sixty-five new cases of COVID-19 are newly announced today (Sunday, May 9), but, as I wrote yesterday, we don’t know what portion of the newly announced cases are among the 200 or so positive cases Dr. Robert Strang said Friday were not yet entered into the province’s computer system. Today’s release from the province says merely that “Public Health continues to work through the backlog of positive cases that need to be contacted and entered into Panorma, the data system,” but once again doesn’t give any indication how far through the backlog it’s worked through. So today’s new number of 165 doesn’t tell us much in terms of the degree to which the current outbreak is being contained.

Regardless, of today’s newly announced cases, 138 are in Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone, 16 are in the Eastern Zone, five are in the Northern Zone, and six are in the Western Zone.

Because the numbers are so large, Public Health is no longer able to provide the cause of cases (i.e., travel related, close contacts, etc.) by the time the release comes out.

There are now 1,626 known active cases in the province. Fifty people are in hospital with the disease, and seven of those are in ICU.

Here are the daily new case numbers and the seven-day rolling averages (today at 173) for the current outbreak, dating from March 28, the last day Nova Scotia had zero new daily cases:

And here’s the graph of daily new cases and the seven-day rolling average since the start of the second wave (Oct. 1); the little blip on the left is the December outbreak centered in Halifax bars:

Here’s the graph of daily new case numbers from the start of the pandemic in March 2020:

Here is the active caseload for the current outbreak:

Here is the active caseload since the start of the second wave on Oct. 1:

And here is the active caseload from the start of the pandemic in March 2020:

Demographics

Today’s newly reported 165 cases are in the following demographics:
• 57 aged 19 or younger (31 girls or women, 26 boys or men)
• 55 aged 20-39 (22 women, 33 men)
• 39 aged 40-59 (18 women, 21 men)
• 13 aged 60-79 (7 women, 6 men)
• 1 aged 80 or over (a woman)

Today, that youngest cohort (19 years old and younger) is at its highest percentage (34.5%) as a total of all newly announced cases. And also today, the youngest group has for the first time passed the next youngest group (20-29 year-olds) in terms of percentage of new daily cases.

This graph shows the percentage of daily positive cases by age cohort, since April 17:

I am often asked about the age the vaccination status of people in hospital/ICU and who have died, about the level of sickness among young people, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t answer those questions; that information is not provided to us.

The active cases are distributed as follows:

• 469 in the Halifax Peninsula/Chebucto Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 557 in the Dartmouth/Southeastern Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 147 in the Bedford/Sackville Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 44 in the Eastern Shore/Musquodoboit Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 7 is in the West Hants Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 98 in the Cape Breton Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 20 in the Inverness, Victoria & Richmond Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 4 in the Antigonish & Guysborough Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 27 in the Colchester/East Hants Community Health Network in the Northern Zone
• 7 in the Pictou Community Health Network in the Northern Zone
• 11 in the Cumberland Community Health Network in the Northern Zone
• 23 in the Annapolis and Kings Community Health Network in the Western Zone
• 21 in the Lunenburg & Queens Community Health Network in the Western Zone
• 7 in the Yarmouth, Shelburne & Digby Community Health Network in the Western Zone

One-hundred-and-eighty-four cases are not assigned to a Community Health Network, but they are in the Central Zone.

Testing

We want to give a huge thank you to all the moms who are spending their Mother’s Day with us volunteering at our 3 rapid COVID-19 rapid testing sites Alderney Gate Library, Halifax Central Library and the Halifax @hfxconventions!#mothersday #testtoprotect #halifax #dartmouth pic.twitter.com/mebNJGzkYz

— Lauren Mills (@HFX_Lauren) May 9, 2021

Nova Scotia Health labs completed 7,511 PCR tests yesterday. This figure does not include the antigen tests taken at the various pop-up testing sites, or the antigen tests collected at some of the PCR testing centres (see below).

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:

Sunday
Alderney Gate Public Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Halifax Central Library, noon-7pm
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
St Andrews Community Centre (Halifax), noon-7pm
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm

Monday
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Bridgewater Cineplex, 2-7pm
Centre 200 (Sydney), 3-7pm

Tuesday
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Bridgewater Cineplex, 2-7pm
Centre 200 (Sydney), 3-7pm

Wednesday
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Bridgewater Cineplex, 2-7pm
Centre 200 (Sydney), 3-7pm

Thursday
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Bridgewater Cineplex, 2-7pm
Centre 200 (Sydney), 3-7pm

Friday
Canada Games Centre, Library, noon-7pm
John Martin School (Dartmouth), noon-7pm
Bridgewater Cineplex, 2-7pm
Centre 200 (Sydney), 3-7pm

You can volunteer to work at the pop-up testing sites here. No medical experience is necessary.

Public Health Mobile Units are available only for pre-booked appointments for PCR tests for people of all ages (results within three days). There are currently no mobile units scheduled.

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 listed below in each of the health zones (appointments may not be available at each site).

Also, asymptomatic testing has been restored at at least some of the PCR testing centres listed below, but as I understand it, some of those locations may be giving asymptomatic people the antigen tests and not the PCR tests.

Central Zone
Bayers Lake (41 Washmill Lake Drive)
Burnside/Dartmouth Crossing (77 Finnian Row)
Canada Games Centre
Dartmouth General Hospital Drive-Thru (No Taxis)
Eastern Shore Memorial Hospital
Mayflower Curling Club
Musquodoboit Valley Memorial Hospital
Saint Mary’s University (Homburg Centre)
Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital (Musquodoboit Harbour)
Zatzman Sportsplex

Northern Zone
Colchester Legion Stadium (14 Lorne Street, Truro)
Truro (625 Abenaki Road, with drive-thru at 600 Abenaki Road)
Truro Farmers Market Drive-Thru testing
Amherst (34 Prince Arthur Street)
Pictou County Assessment Center (678 East River Rd, New Glasgow)

Eastern Zone
Antigonish Market Square
Buchanan Memorial Community Health Centre (Neils Harbour)
Eastern Memorial Hospital (Canso)
Grand Lake Road Fire Hall (Sydney)
Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital
Membertou Entertainment Centre
Northside General Hospital (North Sydney)
Sacred Heart Community Health Centre (Cheticamp)
Strait Richmond Hospital (Evanston)
Victoria County Memorial Hosptial (Baddeck)

Western Zone
Acadia Festival Theatre
Acadia University Club
Berwick Firehall
Digby Station (7 Birch Street)
Liverpool PAC (157 School Street)
Roseway Hospital (Shelburne)
South Shore Assessment Centre (215 Dominion Road, Bridgewater)
Yarmouth Mariners Centre
Yarmouth Visitor Information Centre (228 Main Street)

Vaccination

Vaccination figures are not provided on the weekend.

People 45 and over can make appointments for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. People who are from 40 to 54 can book an appointment for the AstraZeneca. You can book an appointment here.

Schools

The current status of schools:

All schools in the province are closed through May 31.

Potential exposure advisories

Last night, Public Health issued the following list of potential COVID exposure advisories (the release also contained a couple of corrections from previous releases; I’ve updated the potential exposure map to reflect those corrections):

Regardless of whether or not you have COVID-19 symptoms, any passengers who were on the following transit routes for at least 15 minutes on the named dates and times are required to self-isolate while waiting for their test result. If you get a negative result, you do not need to keep self-isolating. If you get a positive result, you will be contacted by Public Health about what to do next.

• Route 58 (Woodlawn) travelling from Penhorn Terminal to Bridge Terminal on May 1 between 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 15.
• Route 58 (Woodlawn) travelling from Bridge Terminal to Penhorn Terminal on May 1 between 9:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 15.
• Route 1 (Spring Garden) travelling from Bridge Terminal to Mumford Terminal on May 1 between 10:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 15.
• Route 1 (Spring Garden) travelling from Mumford Terminal to Bridge Terminal on May 1 between 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 15.
• Route 10 (Dalhousie) travelling from Bridge Terminal to Scotia Square on May 3 between 1:00 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 17.
• Route 72 (Portland Hills) travelling from Pine Crest Drive to Dartmouth Crossing on May 4 between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 18.

Anyone who was on the following flights in the specified rows and seats should visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. You can also call 811 if you don’t have online access or if you have other symptoms that concern you.

• Air Canada 612 travelling on May 1 from Toronto (5:04 p.m.) to Halifax (8:04 p.m.). Passengers in rows 14-20, seats C, D, E and F. are asked to immediately visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers on this flight should continue to self-isolate as required and monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus on this flight on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 15.
• Air Canada 8782 travelling on May 2 from Montreal (7:10 p.m.) to Halifax (9:34 p.m.). Passengers in rows 13-19, seats C, D and F are asked to immediately visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers on this flight should continue to self-isolate as required and monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus on this flight on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 16.
• Air Canada 604 travelling on May 4 from Toronto (8:15 a.m.) to Halifax (11:15 a.m.). Passengers in rows 27-33, seats C, D, E and F are asked to immediately visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers on this flight should continue to self-isolate as required and monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus on this flight on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 18.
• Air Canada 7560 travelling on May 4 from Montreal (7:05 p.m.) to Halifax (9:29 p.m.). Passengers in rows 1-4, seats A, D and F, passengers in rows 12-18, seats C, D and F, and passengers in rows 23-27 seats A, C and D are asked to immediately visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers on this flight should continue to self-isolate as required and monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus on this flight on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 18.
• Air Canada 7560 travelling on May 5 from Montreal (7:05 p.m.) to Halifax (9:29 p.m.). Passengers in rows 21-27, seats A, C and D are asked to immediately visit https://covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers on this flight should continue to self-isolate as required and monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus on this flight on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, May 19.

I’ve collected all the active advisories for potential COVID exposures on bus routes and flights here.

The updated potential COVID exposure advisory map is below; you can click on the icons to get information about each site. Note: in HRM, potential exposure sites that are considered low-risk for transmission are no longer subject to advisories; that’s because everyone in HRM is encouraged to get tested, whether they were at a potential exposure site or not.

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