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 Recoveries Daily average infections Vaccination rate
4 or maybe 5 new cases
Nova Scotia is reporting four new COVID-19 cases today. "There are three cases in Central Zone and one in Northern Zone," says the province's daily disease update. "All are related to travel." There are currently 51 active cases in the province.
Two of today's new cases are in Halifax, according to The Coast's map and table of COVID in the community health networks, and one case is in Dartmouth. The Northern zone's case is in Pictou, the first case in Northern since June 6.
For the seventh day in a row, two COVID patients are in hospital, neither of them sick enough to be in the ICU. Local labs processed 3,731 PCR tests yesterday, slightly higher than the current daily average. There are no vaccination stats in today's report from the province, probably because of the July 1 holiday.
That's all the standard stuff you've come to expect from the daily report, but there's an unusual tidbit, too. "The province is also reporting one probable case of COVID-19 connected to Oceanview Education Centre in Glace Bay," says the report. "Based on public health assessment, this case is being treated as a lab-confirmed positive to ensure all precautions are taken."
Nova Scotia hasn't reported a probable case in a while, so the province explains what's happening. We'll quote the explanation verbatim:
Indeterminate test results do not provide a negative or positive. They may occur because someone previously had COVID-19 and the virus is still detectable in their system, or someone has been tested before the virus is fully detectable. In these situations, public health conducts further assessment, including whether someone had or has symptoms or was recently exposed to someone with COVID-19, to inform how the case is treated. Since probable cases are not confirmed to be positive, they are not included in today’s total number of positive cases of COVID-19.
Public health will be in touch with any close contacts of probable or positive cases and advise of next steps, including testing. Everyone who is a close contact will be notified, tested and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Out of an abundance of caution, public health is recommending that all students and staff at the school be tested for COVID-19, whether or not they have symptoms. No self-isolation is required while they wait for test results unless they have been identified as a close contact by public health or have symptoms.
Happy holiday everybody
We hope you don't have to work on this July 1 statutory holiday. We also hope you'll have time to check out these stories about reconciliation and the cancel Canada Day movement:
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.
jump back to the top
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.
jump back to the top
New and active cases visualized
This interactive graph charts COVID activity in Nova Scotia's third wave, comparing daily new cases with that day’s active caseload. The dark line tracks the rise and fall of new infections reported by the province, which hit a Nova Scotian pandemic record high of 227 cases in a single day on May 7. The green area is the province's caseload, which peaked May 10 at 1,655 active cases. Click or however over any point on the graph and the detail for that moment will pop up. To focus on just new or active cases, you can click the legend at the top left of the graph to hide or reveal that data set.
jump back to the top
Recoveries and infections graphed
A person who tests positive for COVID-19 counts as a new case, the beginning of a problem for both the province and that person. The best ending to the problem is the patient recovers from the disease. This interactive chart compares how many problems started (the red area of new cases) to how many ended (the blue area's recoveries) each day in Nova Scotia's third wave, revealing growth trends along the way. Click or hover over any point on the graph and the detail for that day will pop up, to reveal exactly how quickly things change: May 7 had Nova Scotia's most-ever infections diagnosed in one day, 227 new cases, more than triple the 71 recoveries that day. Two weeks later, May 21, had a record recoveries, 197 in a day, more than double the 84 new cases. To focus on just new cases or recoveries, you can click the legend at the top left of the graph to hide or reveal that data set.
jump back to the top
Average and daily new cases
Knowing the average number of new cases Nova Scotia has every day—the orange area in this graph—is useful to show the trend of infections without one day's ups or downs distorting the picture. Having the daily new cases as well, the dark line on the graph, gives a sense of how each day compares to the average. We use the rolling (AKA moving or running) 7-day average of daily data reported by the province; here's a good explainer of what a rolling average is.
jump back to the top
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.
jump back to the top
Click here for yesterday's COVID-19 news roundup, for June 30, 2021.
