96 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Tuesday, April 27

Jump to sections in this article:
Overview
Variants
Demographics
Testing
Vaccination
Schools
Potential exposure advisories

Ninety-six new cases of COVID-19 are announced in Nova Scotia today (Tuesday, April 27).

Ninety of the new cases are in Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone, three cases are in the Eastern Zone, one case is in the Northern Zone, and two cases 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 419 known active cases in the province. Eleven people are in hospital with the disease, and three of those are in ICU.

Here are the daily new case numbers and seven-day rolling averages (today at 54.9) since the start of the second wave (Oct. 1):

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 second wave:

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

Variants

Once again, there is no update on variant strains of the virus.

So far, there have been 73 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 12 cases of the B.1.351 variant, and one case of the P.1 variant.

Demographics

Today’s cases are in the following demographics:
• 30 aged 19 or younger (16 girls or women, 14 boys or men)
• 36 aged 20-39 (21 women, 15 men)
• 20 aged 40-59 (12 women, 8 men)
• 9 aged 60-79 (2 women, 7 men)
• 1 aged 80 or over (a woman)

The active cases are distributed as follows:

• 119 in the Halifax Peninsula/Chebucto Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 164 in the Dartmouth/Southeastern Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 24 in the Bedford/Sackville Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 10 in the Eastern Shore/Musquodoboit Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 3 is in the West Hants Community Health Network in the Central Zone
• 34 in the Cape Breton Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 1 in the Inverness, Victoria & Richmond Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 1 is in the Antigonish & Guysborough Community Health Network in the Eastern Zone
• 6 in the Colchester/East Hants Community Health Network in the Northern Zone
• 7 in the Pictou Community Health Network in the Northern Zone
• 7 in the Annapolis and Kings Community Health Network in the Western Zone
• 3 in the Lunenburg & Queens Community Health Network in the Western Zone
• 4 in the Yarmouth, Shelburne & Digby Community Health Network in the Western Zone

Thirty-six cases are not assigned to a Community Health Network, but they are in the Central Zone.

Testing

Nova Scotia Health labs completed 9,962 tests yesterday; this does not include tests completed at the various pop-up testing sites.

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:

Tuesday
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm
Alderney Gate Public Library, noon-7pm
East Dartmouth Community Centre, noon-7pm
Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex (first floor), Cape Breton University, Sydney, 10am-6pm

Wednesday
East Dartmouth Community Centre, noon-7pm
Centre 200, 481 George St, Sydney, 11am-7pm
Alderney Gate Public Library, noon-7pm
Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm

Thursday
East Dartmouth Community Centre, noon-7pm
Centre 200, 481 George St, Sydney, 11am-7pm

Friday
Centre 200, 481 George St, Sydney, 11am-7pm

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

Public Health Mobile Units are available for drop-in and pre-booked appointments (symptomatic people and people who have been at the potential exposure sites must pre-book) for PCR tests for people of all ages (results within three days) at the following sites:

Tuesday
• Lake Echo Fellowship Baptist Church (17 Peter Ct., Mineville), 8:30am-6pm

But you can also get tested at the Nova Scotia Health labs by going here. Appointments can be made for the IWK, or for various locations in the health zones (appointments may not be available at each site):

Central Zone
Bayers Lake (41 Washmill Lake Drive)
Burnside/Dartmouth Crossing (77 Finnian Row)
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
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
Northside General Hospital (North Sydney)
Sacred Heart Community Health Centre (Cheticamp)
Strait Richmond Hospital (Evanston)
Victoria County Memorial Hosptial (Baddeck)

Western Zone
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 Visitor Information Centre (228 Main Street)

Vaccination

Yesterday, 7,516 doses of vaccine were administered. So far, a total of 283,591 doses have been administered; 25.6% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

People who are 55 or over can book an appointment for any of the vaccines —  Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca. You can book an appointment here.

Schools

As Jennifer Henderson noted this morning, the province is no longer publicizing each school-connected case:

“Details about identified cases are only provided publicly if Public Health determines there is a need to do so for contact tracing or other public health reasons,” emailed Shannon Kerr on behalf of the Department of Health early yesterday evening. “We are not breaking down school cases by students/teachers to protect the privacy of those who test positive. By identifying if a case is a student or staff, it creates the potential for a person to easily be identified. As always, close contacts will be notified, tested and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.”

Along with Henderson, I’m critical of this policy — it seems designed to protect decision-makers from scrutiny and accountability. I’ll ask Dr. Strang about this at today’s briefing.

I’ve added school-connected COVID cases that I’m aware of to the potential exposure advisories map (see below).

The current status of schools:

All schools in HRM are closed to students until May 10.

Additional school closings
Breton Education Centre is closed to students until Thursday, April 29
Cobequid Educational Centre is closed to students until Thursday, April 29
Jubilee Elementary, Sydney Mines is closed to students until until Thursday, April 29
Oyster Pond Academy is closed to students until Thursday, April 29
Shipyard Elementary is closed to students until Thursday, April 29
Sydney Academy is closed to students until Friday, April 30

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):

Anyone who worked at or visited the following locations on the specified dates and times should visit covid-self-assessment.novascotia.ca/ 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.

For the following locations, if you do not have any symptoms of COVID-19 you do not need to self-isolate while you wait for your test result. If you have symptoms of COVID-19 you are required to self-isolate while you wait for your test result.
• Starbucks (63 Robie St, Truro) on April 19 and April 20 between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and April 21 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 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 5.
• Bruce Hyundai (5482 Prospect Rd, New Minas) on April 19 and April 21 between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and April 20 between 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 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 5.
• Sport Chek New Minas (9123 Commercial St, New Minas) on April 22 and April 23 between 8 a.m. and 5 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 7.

Regardless of whether or not you have COVID-19 symptoms, those present at the following locations 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.
• Second Cup Portland Street (660 Portland St, Dartmouth) on April 21 between 12 noon and 2 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 5.
• Seamus David’s Irish Pub (21 Logiealmond Cl, Dartmouth) on April 21 between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 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 5.
• Habaneros Modern Taco Bar (1551 South Park St, Halifax) on April 21 between 11 a.m. and 12:30 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 5.
• Gateway Meat Market (667 Main St, Dartmouth) on April 22 between 7 p.m. and 8 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 6.
• Giant Tiger Woodlawn (114 Woodlawn Rd, Dartmouth) on April 22 between 7 p.m. and 8 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 6.
• Superstore Portland Street (650 Portland St, Dartmouth) on April 22 between 2 p.m. and 3:30 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 6.
• Superstore Braemar (9 Braemar Dr, Dartmouth) on April 22 between 3 p.m. and 4:30 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 6.
• Fit4Less Dresden Row (1535 Dresden Row, Halifax) on April 22 between 7 a.m. and 9:15 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 6.
• Gap Halifax Shopping Centre (7001 Mumford Rd, Halifax) on April 23 between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 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 7.
• CrossFit Basinview (9 Symonds Rd, Bedford) on April 24 between 6:15 p.m. and 8:15 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 8.
• Superstore Barrington (1075 Barrington St, Halifax) on April 25 between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 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 9.
• Halifax Transit routes:
— Route 10 on April 21, April 22 and April 23 traveling from Dartmouth Bridge Terminal towards Westphal between 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m., and from Westphal towards Bridge Terminal between 2:45 p.m. and 4 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 7.
— Route 10 on April 21 and April 22 travelling from Spring Garden towards Tacoma between 7:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and from Tacoma towards Spring Garden between 4:30 p.m. and 6:15 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 6.

Anyone who was on the following flight 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 8780 travelling on April 22 from Montreal (8:20 a.m.) to Halifax (10:45 a.m.). Passengers in rows 22-28, 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 6.
• Air Canada 8782 travelling on April 24 from Montreal (7:10 p.m.) to Halifax (9 p.m.). Passengers in rows 7-13, 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 8.

The updated potential COVID exposure advisory map is below; you can click on the icons to get information about each site. I’ve also added school-connected cases to the map. 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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