N.S. Records Largest Number Of COVID-19 Cases In A Single Day
HALIFAX—Nova Scotia health officials confirmed 26 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, marking the largest number of cases ever confirmed in a single day in the province.
Nova Scotia now has 173 confirmed cases of the virus, while 6,591 people have tested negative.
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, pointed out today that part of the reason so many new cases were identified across the province yesterday is that so many more people in Nova Scotia are now getting tested.
The QEII Health Sciences Centre’s microbiology lab is working nearly around the clock, and yesterday processed more than 1,000 tests. Two weeks ago, it was only able to process about 200 tests a day.
“While we have 26 new cases out of 1,000 test results. That’s good news, a lot of people are testing negative,” Strang said.
However, he admitted he is still concerned about how quickly new cases are being identified, especially since he expects to see new signs of community spread at any time.
“This does make me nervous. I didn’t sleep well last night thinking about this,” he said.
He said that the next few weeks will be “critical” for Nova Scotia. As COVID begins to spread more rapidly social distancing and other public health measures will become even more important.
Even if Nova Scotians follow all the rules, he said, it could still be some time before things start going back to normal.
“I’m not sure if it’s June or July. But I keep coming back to the point that we know this isn’t just a two-week phenomenon. It’s a number of weeks: six, eight, 10 weeks at least,” Strang said.
“Even when things start to get better, we [won’t] just take everything off all at once,” he added. “We have to then loosen up the restrictions in a very carefully managed way. Even as we start to get back to normal it doesn’t mean we get back to full normal right away.”
COVID-19 Spread Continues at Seniors Homes
Strang also pointed out today that health officials are still trying to oust the virus from several seniors facilities in the province, even as new cases continue to emerge.
One of yesterday’s new COVID-19 cases includes a staff member at the Magnolia residential care home in Enfield. That means there are now three staff members and two residents at the facility with COVID-19.
Strang said health officials are still trying to untangle exactly where the infection in that facility started, but that anyone at the facilities who have been in close contact with an infected person are in self-isolation.
Two other senior’s facilities—the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home in Antigonish and Lewis Hall in Dartmouth—each have a staff member who has been infected.
Strang said both of those infections are related to travel or other cases.