Senior dies, six more cases reported in Nova Scotia
HALIFAX — Another Nova Scotian has died from COVID-19.
A woman over 80 died in the central health zone, the Health Department reported Friday.
There have now been 67 Covid-19-related deaths in the province.
“It’s a stark reminder of the impact that COVID-19 continues to have on our province and that we need to continue to remain vigilant and follow public health protocols,” said Premier Iain Rankin at a news briefing Friday with Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health.
Also Friday, six new cases of COVID-19 were reported: Of three cases in the central zone, one is a close contact of a previous case and the other two are related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
There are also two new cases in the eastern health zone and one in the western zone, all related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
In all cases, the people are self-isolating as required.
MASK ORDER EXPANDED
Unrelated to the cases announced Friday, an additional
U.K. variant case has been identified. This case was previously reported and is included in the provincial data, though the person is not in Nova Scotia and has no known close contacts in the province.
This brings the total number of cases of the U.K. variant in Nova Scotia to 45. The number of South African variant cases remains at 10. These variants are much more contagious than the original coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The number of active cases is unchanged at 42.
In response to rising concerns about COVID-19 variants, Nova Scotia has expanded its protocols on mandatory mask-wearing to the outdoor environment when social distancing isn't possible, such as restaurant and bar patios.
"Regardless of whether it's indoors or outdoors, masking is required when you're entering or exiting, getting up and going to the washroom" in restaurants and bars, Strang said at a news briefing Friday.
"Of course, once you're seated and you're actively eating or drinking, you can take the mask off."
Masks are also now required in outdoor public places where it is difficult to maintain physical distance, such as farm markets and special events such as festivals.
VACCINE PLAN TOUTED
Both Strang and the premier spent much of the news conference praising Nova Scotia’s vaccine rollout plan. Rankin said the number of doses into arms was expected to hit 200,000 on Friday.
The premier visited a pharmacy vaccine clinic in his constituency in Timberlea on Thursday and he accompanied Strang to a community clinic at the Halifax Forum on Friday.
Rankin praised the vaccine clinic staff across the province for their “extraordinary work.”
“This is monumental for our history and our province," Rankin said.
"We will reach 200,000 doses at some point (Friday). As of (Thursday), we had 19.6 per cent of Nova Scotians receiving their first dose and we’re well ahead of the national average for those that have received their second dose.”
As of April 15, 194,792 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 32,255 Nova Scotians have received their second dose.
ONLINE BOOKING SYSTEM UPGRADED
Nova Scotia’s vaccine rollout has been criticized for lagging other provinces and glitches with the online and phone booking system have left many users frustrated.
Strang said the system has been upgraded with a tool that identifies locations close to the user’s home address and shows nearby clinics have available appointments and for which type of vaccine.
“We’ve also added capacity to our phone line,” Strang said. “There are both more lines and operators. Just this week we expanded from 50 to 100 lines, that means 100 callers can queue while they wait for an operator. And within this queue a feature has been added to inform callers of their estimated wait time. If callers exceed the 100 caller queue, a message will advise those callers that it’s full and to call back later.”
POTENTIAL EXPOSURE ADVISORY
Passengers on two Air Canada flights have been advised about potential exposure to COVID-19.
Anyone who was on the following flights in the specified rows and seats should visit https://covid-selfassessment.novascotia.ca/en to book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether 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 flight 8780 travelling on April 13 from Montreal (8 a.m.) to Halifax (10:24 a.m.). Passengers in rows 20-26 seats C, D and F are asked to immediately book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether they have COVID19 symptoms. All other passengers should continue to self-isolate as required and watch for symptoms up to and including April 27.
• Air Canada flight 8780 travelling on April 14 from Montreal (7:55 a.m.) to Halifax (10:27 a.m.). Passengers in rows 23-27 seats C, D and F are asked to immediately book a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether they have COVID-19 symptoms. All other passengers should watch for symptoms up to and including, April 28.
All potential exposure notifications are listed at http:// www.nshealth.ca/covidexposures.