Briefing
Today’s update ended abruptly after questions from three reporters with Premier Stephen McNeil announcing that there were a number of “things” pulling him away today (he didn’t actually name any) before promising that he and Dr. Robert Strang would be back on Friday.
Dr. Robert Strang
The two announced seven new cases of COVID-19, including one in the Northern Zone related to travel outside Atlantic Canada; four in the Central Zone, including one at Shannon Park Elementary in Dartmouth; and two in the Western Zone, connected to previously known cases, but also linked because both are workers at “a large Annapolis Valley Poultry plant.” Strang says the plant is in the process of shutting down (which takes 24 hours to complete safely) and all 450 workers will be tested. The Premier said that the province’s mobile testing units would be employed for this purpose. Asked how concerning the outbreak is, Strang acknowledged that there have been outbreaks in similar plants across the country but said the situation here is under control.
Strang called the province’s COVID numbers “encouraging,” with new cases in the single-digits for four consecutive days and active cases now in the double digits. Since the beginning of the second wave on October 1, Nova Scotia has identified 294 cases of COVID, 216 of which are now resolved. He said in the past week the number of close contacts associated with identified cases has declined “significantly.” (This is one of the numbers he’d said earlier Public Health would be watching closely.)
That said, the tighter restrictions will remain in place in the Central Zone until December 16, at which point, they will be re-evaluated. Strang said Occupational Health and Safety inspectors completed 70 spot checks in the Halifax area recently, focusing on Big Box stores and shopping malls, and found no problems. Strang says compliance with Public Health regulations has been “exceptional.”
Numbers*
New Cases: 7
Active Cases: 78
Cumulative cases: 294
Resolved cases: 216
Hospitalizations: 0
ICU: 0
Age range: 5 to 70
Total tests: 77,915
[The province is now reporting total completed tests, rather than the number of negative tests.]
*Public Health has reset the numbers as of the beginning of the second wave of COVID in this province, which it is dating to October 1. Total cumulative numbers can be found on the provincial COVID website.
Vaccine
The big subject today was vaccines.
Nova Scotia will receive 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on December 15. (Asked why the province was receiving so few doses, Strang said every province is receiving the same number initially, after which the vaccine will be distributed on a per capita basis). Two doses, 21 days apart, are required for the vaccine to be as effective as possible, so this is enough to vaccinate 975 people. Strang says in keeping with the guidelines established by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, the first doses, pending approval of the vaccine by Health Canada, will go to frontline healthcare workers in the Central Zone in acute care, ICU, Emergency and COVID units.
Asked why healthcare workers were being prioritized over residents of long-term-care facilities, Strang said that the NACI guidelines list four priority groups but don’t specify which is to be vaccinated first, and Nova Scotia has opted to prioritize healthcare workers because the manufacturer has told them the initial doses must be given close to the site where the vaccine is being stored (at minus 70 degrees Celsius). It can’t be transported.
The ultra low temperature freezer to be used for storing the Pfizer vaccine. Photo: Communications Nova Scotia
After the initial allotment on December 15, Strang says the province will receive regular, weekly allotments that will total 150,000 doses by end-March 2021 — enough to vaccinate 75,000 people. Strang says they are still awaiting final confirmation on this but are planning based on this number.
After healthcare workers, and as soon as “storage and handling” requirements for the vaccine allow, the province will vaccinate residents of long-term-care facilities and staff, then seniors living in the community, beginning with those 80+, then those 75+, then those 70+.
Strang says it will be spring 2021 before they expand the program to include other healthcare workers and essential workers, summer before they can broaden it to the general population, and fall before everyone who wants to be vaccinated will have been vaccinated.
In the meantime, he said, it will be very important that everyone continues to follow the Public Health protocols around masking, distancing, handwashing and gathering limits, because there is no guarantee we won’t have a third wave even as the vaccine is being rolled out. And should there be increased activity, as in the Central Zone during the second wave, Strang said he might have to respond with tighter restrictions.
Strang said Nova Scotia will take part this week in a “dry run,” to test its processes for shipping, delivering, tracking and storing the vaccine. Later this week, he said there would be a “tabletop” exercise to focus on contingency planning around any hiccups that could arise around vaccine delivery.
The accompanying press release stated that doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected “this month.” Moderna’s vaccine “must be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius” which is “like many other vaccines.”
Testing
Reporting of pop-up testing numbers will be done weekly on Fridays from now on, starting this Friday.
Asymptomatic testing is now available to people in across the province. Strang says their focus will be on people with active social lives who may have more frequent interactions in more varied social circles, but that anyone who wants to be tested will be tested.
In the Central Zone, people can go to the Zatzman Sports Complex in Dartmouth without an appointment. Elsewhere in the province, people are asked to book an appointment through the online system. Appointments are being booked up to December 13. Details here.
Pop-up rapid-testing facilities will be operating at different sites around the province this week and next. Strang said announcements of their locations will be made locally on a day-to-day basis. These facilities are for anyone 16 and over who is asymptomatic but who would like to be tested for COVID.
Online fitness
Strang clarified what he said was a misunderstanding about online fitness classes. He said these are permitted as long as no more than five people are in the fitness facility from which the class is being streamed.
Christmas
Strang warned again that this Christmas season will be different and said there will be detailed guidance for seasonal events like toy and food drives and office parties on the NS COVID website as of tomorrow (Wednesday).
Asked about people — particularly university students — who might be planning to return to an area with higher COVID activity for the holidays, Strang said if they could avoid leaving the province, it would be best, but if they do travel they need to continue to follow all the usual public health protocols, to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the jurisdiction they’re visiting and to know that they’ll have to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return to Nova Scotia
School closures
Asked if, given there have now been 10 schools affected by COVID-19, the province was considering extending the Christmas break, the premier said no one has been infected in a school, and that the Department of Education will continue to monitor the situation.
And that was basically it for today.
(I didn’t get the actual photos from today’s briefing in time, so I used old ones, in case you watch the video and notice their ties are different.)
