N.S. reports 146 new COVID-19 cases, 42 in hospital

Nova Scotia reported146 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with 42 people in hospital and eight in intensive care.

There are now 943 known active cases in the province.A list of active exposure sitesin Nova Scotia can be foundhere.

Premier Iain Rankin and Dr. Robert Strang,the province's chief medical officer of health, saidduring a briefing they're concerned to see COVID-19 hospitalizationsrising, especially the number of patients in intensive care.

Strang said the people coming into hospital now are younger and healthier than ever before in the pandemic, but aregetting sicker, due to variants of the coronavirus.

People should really be thinking about the third wave being driven by a completely different coronavirus, Strang said, one which spreads much more quickly.

The province is not yet "anywhere close" to being out of the woods when it comes to the currentoutbreak, he said.

After a weekend of police ticketing 37 people for breaking the Health Protection Act in Halifax, amounting to a total of $74,000 in fines, the premier directed angry words at rule-breakers.

The RCMP also fined two men from Halifax on Monday for leaving the municipality for non-essential reasons.

"That's outrageous," Rankin said. "I have a serious question: what is wrong with you? How come you don't take this as serious as you should?"

Rankin said seeing people in their 20s and 30s going into the ICU should be a "wake-up call" for those who aren't taking the restrictions seriously.

Strang noted that some people now in hospital went out to celebrate after their first vaccine dose, and contracted the coronavirus. He said the vaccine only becomes effective two weeks after the shot.

There have also been a few cases where people who were very sick with COVID-19 did not call 911 because they could not pay the ambulance fee, Strang said. The province has now waived the fee for anyone with COVID-19 who needs emergency transportation, Strang said.

If anyone is concerned about their immediate health issues and are still awaiting test results, they should call 811 or 911, and notPublic Health, Strang said.

After a weekend of lab technicians going flat-out to clear the backlog of COVID-19 tests, Strang said the lab teams have worked "miracles" and will be caught up by the end of the day Monday.

By Tuesday, the lab should be able to meet the 48-hour turnaround time for test results.

Strang expects case numbers to remain high over the next few days, and hopefully start to drop by the end of this week to reflect the impact of public-health restrictions.

Health authority reports 166 staff in isolation

Nova Scotia's health authority has12 confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff in the central zone,with one probable case discovered in theirrapid testing that is pending a full PCRresult.

According to an email from the authority, two of the 12 confirmed cases are deemed recovered, putting them at 10 active cases.

Five health-care workers are in isolation as a result of these positive cases in the workplace.

There are 166 staff members in isolation as a result of reporting symptoms, or as a result of being in an exposure location.

A look at Halifax's ICU as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise

3 years ago

Duration 4:19

Dr. Brendan Carr, CEO of Nova Scotia Health, says roughly 44 ICU beds are still available for patients with the virus. But, hundreds of surgeries have been delayed to make this happen.

The health authority said this number fluctuates daily as a result of staff self-reporting their isolation through internal occupational health and safety phone lines.

The new COVID-19 cases reported Monday were identified among17,092 tests Sunday.According to posted provincial figures, one per cent of tests conducted Sunday came back positive.

There are 130new cases in the central health zone, ninein the eastern zone, three in the western zone and four in the northern zone.

The province has reported high daily case numbers in recent days, as it worksthrough a backlog of about 45,000 unprocessed tests.

On Saturday, the province reported a record 148 new cases after conducting nearly 17,000 tests.

Expanded eligibility for Moderna, Pfizer vaccines

On Monday, the province expanded eligibility for theModerna and Pfizer-BioNTechvaccines.

Appointments for the two mRNA vaccines opened to peopleaged 50 to 54 Monday morning.

There are about 67,625 eligible Nova Scotians in the 50 to 54 age group.

Up until Monday, the two vaccines had been available to Nova Scotians 55 and up. The province has been gradually lowering the age cohort eligible for the shots as part of its vaccine rollout strategy.

The vaccines will be available to the new age groupat all community clinics and designated pharmacies, and more appointments will be released as vaccine supply is confirmed.

The province also announced it will hold its first COVID-19 vaccination drive-thru clinicnext Monday, at the Dartmouth General Hospital.

The clinic will be open to Nova Scotians 50 and older. Appointments for the drive-thru will open Tuesday.

Halifax Transit spacing passengers

On Monday, Halifax Transit said they wouldbegin installing signage on conventional buses and ferries to encourage passengers to appropriately distance where they sit "out of an abundance of caution," according to a news release.

They have taken several other measures to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, including cleaning high-touch surfaces more often, and installing shields next to bus operators.

Recent data has shown that ridership on buses is low, with the busiest daily trip reaching 43 per cent capacity, the municipality said.

Halifax Transit noted that since they have been designated an essential service by the province, the two-metre physical distancing and gathering limits do not apply on buses and ferries.

N.S. on track to offer vaccineto all adults by June

As of Sunday, 320,910doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered. Of those, 36,600 Nova Scotians had received their second dose.

So far, Strang said they have been getting very gooduptake of the vaccine (around 80 per cent) of those 65 and up.

Strang said the province is on track to open up vaccine appointments for people 18 years oldand up bymid-June.

When asked about when the province could reach herd immunity, he said that depends on the younger age groups having the same high percentage of vaccination rates.

Strang said he hopes to see a large number of people vaccinated sometime in June.

"Which then puts us in a position to have a much less restricted summer," Strang said.

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• Newfoundland and Labradorreported four new cases Monday, which includes 13 that were identified on aship anchored in Conception Bay.There were 56active cases and two people in hospital related to the coronavirus.
• New Brunswickreported 15 new cases Monday and one new death. There were 142 active cases. Sixpeople are in hospital with the coronavirus, two in intensive care.
• P.E.I.announced a new case on Sunday after announcing two on Friday. The province had 13 active cases with no one in hospital.