40 in hospital with COVID-19 as N.S. reports 1,020 cases Tuesday
CBC
Nova Scotia reported 1,020 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 40 people in hospital due to the virus, including five in intensive care.
Hospitalizations are currently well below the number during the spring wave of COVID-19, when at one point in May more than 100 people were in hospital due to the virus.
Of those in hospital:
Of Tuesday's reported cases, 544 are in the central zone,182 are in the eastern zone, 153 are in the western zone and 141 are in the northern zone.
The premier said Monday the province was not introducing new public health restrictions at the moment, but officials are watching the situation closely and there is another update scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. AT.
Among the groups waiting to see what's announced Wednesday is the Public School Administrators Association of Nova Scotia.
Tim Simony, the association's chair, said there are many details of the back-to-school plan yet to be released, which makes it difficult for his members to know how to prepare for in-person learning.
Students are currently scheduled to go back to in-person learning in Nova Scotia on Jan. 10, but Houston and Strang said Monday they are monitoring case numbers and will have further updates at the Wednesday briefing.
Simony said people are looking for further information about how cohorting will work in schools and what, if anything, administrators will have to do regarding contact tracing. At a recent COVID-19 briefing, it was stated that public health officials will no longer do contact tracing in schools and school principals should be notified if a student tests positive.
"The system and administrators have not received any direction on that matter as of yet," said Simony.
Simony said the focus for his association is whether the asks of administrators are sustainable and feasible, based on available resources. The association doesn't take a position on whether classes should resume in person or online.
"The position that we've had since March 2020 has been that we rely on the decision-making and direction that is established by the chief medical officer of health. That's where the expertise and the science and decision-making capacity is," he said.
Several hospitals have reported outbreaks, including the Halifax Infirmary, Dartmouth General, the Victoria General site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre, St. Martha's Regional and New Waterford Consolidated.
Visitor restrictions have been put in place at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, Dartmouth General and Colchester East Hants Health Centre because of increased COVID-19 activity.
