N.S. reports 15 COVID-19 deaths in latest weekly update

Nova Scotia reported 15 deaths from COVID-19 for the week ending Sept. 12, the province's updated COVID-19 dashboard showed Thursday.

There were an average of 162 daily COVID-19 cases confirmed by PCR testing during that time, up from 141 last week. Ten people died of COVID-19 in the previous reporting period. The median age of deaths for this reporting week is 83.

As of Thursday, Sept. 15, Nova Scotia Health reported 277 patients in hospitals across the province tested positive for COVID-19 — a decrease of 30 from the previous week. That number includes:

• 45 patients in hospital being treated for COVID-19, seven in intensive care.
• 145 patients in hospital have COVID-19 but are being treated for something else.
• 87 patients in hospital contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.

Nova Scotia Health reported 123 employees off work on Thursday due to being diagnosed as positive for COVID-19, awaiting results of a COVID-19 test, or being exposed to a member of their household who tested positive for COVID-19. Last week that number was 141.

As of Thursday, the IWK Children's Hospital is reporting fewer than five children in hospital being treated for COVID-19.  There are 25 staff members who are off work due to COVID-19, including 13 who are self isolating. 

In its monthly epidemiological summary for August, the province noted Nova Scotia is now in the seventh wave of COVID-19. It said the seventh wave started July 1. It reported a total of 6,882 positive PCR results, 208 hospitalizations and 49 deaths from COVID-19.

This week, the province announced Nova Scotians who are 65 and older can now book bivalent COVID-19 vaccine appointments. The updated Moderna vaccine targets both the original virus and the Omicron variant BA.1.

The province noted a decrease in hospitalizations and positive test results, but an increase in deaths from July.

Of the 33 people that died in August, 27 were 70 or older and 13 were people living in long-term care facilities.

The province noted age and a lack of vaccination "continue to be associated with severe outcomes."

Nova Scotians who are 70 and older have been hospitalized at 15 times the rate of those 18 to 49, the province reported. Unvaccinated Nova Scotians were hospitalized at nearly three times the rate and died more than two times the rate as those with three or more doses.