COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Nov 9

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.

Outbreak update

Following on from yesterday's provincial briefing about the source of the recent high case numbers, the province confirms there is community COVID spread happening in the Western and Northern zones. Its report says the community spread is "primarily related to ongoing transmission from a faith-based gathering that occurred in late October. This includes secondary transmission to other faith-based gatherings, workplaces and to East Cumberland Lodge, a long-term care home in Pugwash."

And that nursing home outbreak has gotten worse. "Thirteen more residents and one additional staff member at East Cumberland Lodge have tested positive for COVID-19," the report says. "Some of these cases will be reflected in Wednesday’s case numbers. A total of 17 residents and two staff members at the home have now tested positive, and one resident is in hospital. Public health is working with the facility to prevent further spread. Increased public health measures and restrictions are in place."

Currently 10 Nova Scotians are in hospital with COVID across Nova Scotia, and two of those patients are so sick that they are in intensive care. This is up from yesterday, when there were nine people hospitalized with the disease, and only one in the ICU.

A death and 56 new cases

Nova Scotia is reporting its latest COVID death, a man in his 80s who lived in the Eastern health zone. This is the province's 102nd known pandemic death.

“It pains me greatly to know that another family is mourning the loss of a loved one because of COVID-19,” says premier Tim Houston in today's daily disease report. “We all need to do our part and get vaccinated, and we need to follow the rules. If we’re sick, we stay home. If we aren’t vaccinated, we respect the proof of vaccine policy and we don’t participate in activities that aren’t essential. This is how we protect ourselves and one another.”

In less-vital news, yesterday the province set a new high for most new cases in a single report during Nova Scotia's COVID fourth wave—111 new infections reported Monday, the total for cases on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Today we set the new record for most cases in a single day in the fourth wave, with the province announcing 56 new cases on Tuesday.

The province's written report locates the 56 cases as 30 in Western zone, 18 in Central, seven in Northern and a single case in the Eastern none. By clicking deep into Nova Scotia's data dashboard, The Coast is able to do an analysis of cases that zoom in more narrowly, to the level of the 14 community health networks, instead of sticking with the simple breakdown of four health zones. Our map and table, below, aim to report this information is highly accessible formats. No need for you to click endlessly into a dashboard and track numbers day after day when The Coast can do it for the whole province!

Today's analysis shows the Annapolis Valley community network has the most cases of any network in Nova Scotia, with 18 new cases. Another Western zone network—the South Shore—has the second-most infections Tuesday with seven. Then there is a tie for third place, between the Central zone network of Halifax and Northern zone's Amherst/Cumberland network, with six infections each.

The Annapolis Valley has the most active cases currently, 55 active cases, followed by Amherst/Cumberland at 49 and Halifax with 42 active cases.

Canadian cases starting to increase

Nova Scotia hasn't yet released its new COVID case numbers for Tuesday, but if you want something to do while you're waiting for them, check out our chart of Canadian cases lower down this page. It takes the 14-day-moving-average number of new infections reported by each province and territory to create a data visualization that shows both the national trend and, if you click to turn off various places, more localized trends.

Anyway, what makes the graph especially interesting right now—a car-crash kind of interesting—is that case numbers are starting to go up after about six straight weeks of general decline. We will be watching this graph closely over coming days in hopes this current increase is a temporary blip.

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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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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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. Two months later, on September 14, the province formally announced the arrival of the fourth wave of COVID. 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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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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There was a point in July 2021, when the delta variant was causing an increase in COVID infections around the world, that Canada seemed safe from the fourth wave. By August, however, that point had passed, and case numbers around the country started to rise again. This graph charts the number of new infections every day in each province and territory, using the 7-day moving average to mitigate single-day anomalies (including a lack of weekend reporting in several jurisdictions including British Columbia and Nova Scotia). To focus on individual places, click the place names at the top of the chart to turn that data on or off.

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On Fridays, the province's daily COVID report includes statistics about COVID breakthroughs—infections, hospitalizations and deaths among people who are fully or partially vaccinated. The province reports its numbers as a cumulative total: all the breakthrough cases dating from March 15, 2021 to the latest update. The Coast does an analysis to break the information about new cases down by each weekly reporting period, in order to offer our readers the following unique view of the same information, so you can better understand the fluctuations in breakthrough infections as they happen. Note: Our bar chart only dates back to June because the province didn't start this reporting until summer 2021.

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Click here for yesterday's COVID-19 news roundup, for November 8, 2021.