NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia's evolving pandemic response, keep on reading.
Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate
A strange 7 new cases
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Reopening status
Phase 4
New cases
7
New recoveries
2
New deaths
0
Active cases
24
Total cases in Nova Scotia during pandemic
5,918
Total COVID deaths
93
We aren't sure what to make of this very unusual description from the province. The phrase "earlier this year" makes is sound like three patients might have been diagnosed in January or February, and although they recovered months ago they were only just discovered in the public health patient database. That would mean instead of seven new cases today, we really have four new cases plus three old cases that have no bearing on the province in August, but for transparency's sake their existence needs to be disclosed.
However, the active caseload in Nova Scotia increased from 19 active cases yesterday to a post-third-wave high of 24 today—an increase of five active cases—and the province says two people recovered since yesterday's report. So there were actually seven active cases added to the caseload tally today, then two recoveries subtracted, in order to reach the net increase of five active cases. Meaning all seven of today's new cases are also active cases, even the three from "earlier this year" who clearly did not recover months ago.
Happily, out of the 24 active patients currently in Nova Scotia, only one of them is in the hospital. This person is also in intensive care.
The seven new cases being reported today are spread out across the province, according to the government's daily update: five in the Central health zone, and one each in Eastern and Western zones. All the cases are related to either travel or previous COVID patients. Our map and table that break Nova Scotia's four health zones into 14 community health networks show the seven cases are located in the Halifax network (one case), Bedford/Sackville (two cases), the Annapolis Valley (one case) and Antigonish/Guysborough (one case). Two of the Central zone cases couldn't be connected to a specific health network (because the patients' postal codes aren't yet known) so only show up on The Coast's table.
Testing is up across Nova Scotia. Local labs completed 3,888 PCR COVID tests yesterday, compared to 3,072 reported the day before. Today's 3,888 figure is fully a thousand tests higher than the currently daily average.
Vaccinations, however, are down, from 3,151 jabs in yesterday's report to 2,951 injections in today's. Now 67.66 percent of all Nova Scotians are fully vaccinated, and 76.84 of the population has at least one dose—numbers that barely increased from yesterday.
Map of cases in community health networks
This infographic was created by The Coast using daily case data from Nova Scotia's official COVID-19 dashboard. Our goal is for this to be the best NS COVID map around, clearer and more informative than the province or any other media organization provides. To get there we do an analysis of the data to find each day's new and resolved case numbers in the 14 community health networks, information the province does not provide. For a different but still highly accessible approach to the latest COVID statistics, check out our case table. Note: On July 23, 2021, Nova Scotia announced that it will no longer update case numbers on weekends.
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Case table of the health networks
The Coast uses data logged from Nova Scotia's official COVID-19 dashboard in order to provide this tabulated breakdown. The province reports the number of active cases in each of Nova Scotia's 14 community health networks, but we do the math to be able to report the new and resolved case numbers. We also map the data to provide a different view of the case information. Note: Effective July 23, 2021, the province no longer updates case numbers on weekends.
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New and active cases visualized
Nova Scotia's third wave of COVID grew in April, 2021, peaked in May (227 new cases in one day was the maximum) and subsided in June. On July 17, the province reached five active cases—its lowest level in more than eight months—and an election was called. So when it came time to reset The Coast's chart comparing daily new cases with that day’s active caseload, in order to better reflect disease levels after the third wave, we started from July 17. The dark line tracks the rise and fall of new infections reported by the province; the green area is the province's caseload. Click or hover over any point on the graph and the detail for that moment will pop up. To focus on just new or active cases, click the legend at the top left of the graph to hide or reveal that data set. Note: As of July 23, 2021, the province stopped updating case numbers on weekends. And you can click here for the version of this graph that includes the third wave and its May 10 crest of 1,655 active cases.
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Vaccination in the population
How many Nova Scotians already have one dose of vaccine? How many are fully vaccinated with two doses? And how close are we to the herd immunity goal of 75 percent of the province fully vaxxed? These questions are answered in our chart of the vaccination rate in Nova Scotia since the province started reporting these numbers in January 2021, breaking out people who've had a single dose separate from those who've had the full complement of two doses. (Here's more information about the 75 percent target and what it will take to get there.) Note: The province doesn't update vaccination numbers on weekends.
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Click here for yesterday's COVID-19 news roundup, for August 11, 2021.