Nova Scotia announced 31 new infections today, which is a below-average number on its own—the 31 are spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday for about 10 infected per day. But with those cases the province has now reported a total of 6,030 COVID cases during the pandemic. In honour of passing the 6,000-infection milestone, The Coast presents six infographics to give perspective on how we got here, and inform what comes next.
1From the first cases announced March 15, 2020 through the 6,030th case August 30, 2021, Nova Scotia’s averaged 11.3 new infections every day during the pandemic. Knowing that, you can do a little analysis when the provincial case report comes out to determine if that day is above or below average. Go ahead and impress your friends.
2This pie chart is a snapshot of case totals across Canada on August 30, putting Nova Scotia’s cases in perspective with the rest of the county: 6,030 is a lot for the east coast or The North, a drop in the bucket to the other provinces. Click names at the top of the chart to turn data on/off and reveal places that get crowded out of the big picture.
3Hope you’re ready for another serving of pie chart. Like the above version that puts all 13 Canadian provinces and territories in an interactive space, this one charts how many cases each of the 14 community health networks in Nova Scotia has had during the pandemic. Click pieces of the pie for details, or place names to clear away some data.
4Dating the start of the pandemic in Nova Scotia to March 13, 2020, when the first restrictions were announced, COVID’s been with us for 535 days. And in all that time, the province has only known 28 days when there were no active cases. The most recent happened last September, almost a year ago. The next, whenever it arrives, will be an occasion to celebrate.
5All 6,030 cases Nova Scotia’s had, sorted by the location, age and gender categories the province publishes. Click for details! (Every patient has been accounted for under the male and female labels; it’s unclear whether the province’s case database only accepts those two choices, or no non-binary Nova Scotians have been diagnosed with COVID. If you can and want to shed any light on the situation, please comment below or DM The Coast confidentially on our socials.) Since last time we published this chart—after Nova Scotia hit the 5,000-case mark on May 19—two things have changed. 1. Where there hadn’t been a case among males 80+ years old in the Eastern zone in May, now there is one, leaving Western zone females aged 80 and older as the only group that hasn’t caught the disease. And 2. Males 20 to 39 years old in Central zone have become the demographic with the most infections (969 of the 6,030 total) in Nova Scotia, wresting that title from Central zone’s females in the same age bracket.
6Here are the community health network totals in a different format that also shows what health zones the networks are in. Central zone has been home to more than three quarters of provincial cases with 4,687 of the total, and Halifax claims 2,275 of those, the most of any single community network. At the other end of the spectrum, Yarmouth/Shelburne/Digby has had the fewest cases, just 19 over the course of the pandemic—not much more than one case per month. Whatever happens with the fourth wave and its apparently inevitable arrival in Nova Scotia, we hope YSD continues to stay safe.
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COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Monday, Aug 30
This article appears in Aug 1-30, 2021.
