Nova Scotia reports 1 COVID-19 death Thursday

Nova Scotia reported one death and 90 people in designated COVID-19 units on Thursday, including 11 in ICU.

The death was a woman in her 80s in the central zone, according to a news release.

The age range for those in hospital is 0 to 95 years old. The average age of those in hospital is 65, and those in hospital stay for an average of six days.

Since the Omicron wave began on Dec. 8, 57 Nova Scotians have died because of COVID-19.

Of those in hospital:

• 24 people have had a third dose of vaccine.
• 34 people are fully vaccinated with two doses.
• 0 people are partially vaccinated.
• 32 people are unvaccinated.

On Wednesday, Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health, said the province has passed the peak of the Omicron wave and can begin easing public health restrictions in the coming days.

Strang said new admissions to hospital have also reached their peak, but he cautioned the health-care system remains under "tremendous pressure," with bed occupancy at 105 per cent.

Still, Strang said it was time to start lifting restrictions under a phased approach beginning Monday, Feb. 14.

Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about 4½ times more likely to be hospitalized or die due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.

Unvaccinated people are also more than seven times as likely to die of COVID-19 than someone who had received a booster dose.

Strang says convoy did not influence decision

Strang credited the province's high vaccination rate and compliance with public health orders with allowing restrictions to be loosened. 

He said the protests unfolding in Ottawa had nothing to do with the decision, which is based on evolving science.

There are two other groups of people in hospital related to COVID-19:

• 129 people who were identified as positive upon arrival at hospital but were admitted for another medical reason, or were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require specialized care.
• 143 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.

Number of cases

Nova Scotia labs completed 2,931 tests on Wednesday and reported 365 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 143 in the central zone, 64 in the eastern zone, 49 in the northern zone and 109 in the western zone.

As of Thursday, there were an estimated 3,306 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.