Nova Scotia reported three new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, all in the central health zone, as the province released more details about its immunization plan.
One case is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada and the other two are under investigation, the Health Department said in a news release.
The number of active cases now stands at 19, a big drop from the previous report of 27 cases.
None of the cases reported Tuesday are connected to an outbreak at Churchill Academy, a private school in Dartmouth, first reported on Jan. 1.
At a news briefing Tuesday with Premier Stephen McNeil, Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health, said the outbreak was sparked by an infected person who was at the school before the holiday break on Dec. 17 and Dec. 18.
A public health investigation of the person’s close contacts identified six more COVID-19 cases.
The testing of all staff members and students began Dec. 31 and so far no more infections have been found, Strang said.
While sporadic cases have been identified in public schools, “It’s the first school where we can say we’ve had an outbreak within the school and we’re looking at some of the specific circumstances. This is a private school for children with a range of different learning needs and so we’re looking at what are some of the unique characteristics perhaps in that school which led to an outbreak.
“But we’ve also put all the right steps in place to bring that outbreak under control in a timely manner.”
Nova Scotia Health Authority's labs completed 1,045 Nova Scotia tests on Monday. Since Oct. 1, Nova Scotia has completed 119,593 COVID-19 tests. There have been 419 positive COVID-19 cases and no deaths. No one is currently in hospital. Four hundred cases are resolved.
Over 1 million doses
In its update on the immunization plan, the province said over a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine – enough for more than 500,000 people – are expected to arrive in the province over the next six months.
Nova Scotia is building a strategic, flexible immunization plan with over a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine – enough for more than 500,000 people – expected to arrive in the province over the next six months. https://t.co/fwcrOIY7GY
— Health & Wellness (@nshealth) January 5, 2021
Nova Scotia is vaccinating health-care workers who work in COVID-19 settings first. Over the next three months, the program will expand to other frontline health-care workers such as doctors, paramedics and home-care workers; long-term-care residents and staff; residential care residents and staff; and people in the community who are 75 and older.
These clinics will start this month:
- Cape Breton Regional Hospital and Valley Regional Hospital will each receive 1,950 doses this week, with clinics starting Jan. 11
- Colchester East Hants Health Centre will receive 2,925 doses the week of Jan. 11, with a clinic starting Jan. 18
- Vaccinations at three long-term care facilities in Central Zone - Northwood (Halifax campus), Shannex (Parkstone) and Oceanview - will also begin this month
About 140,000 doses are expected by the end of March in the first phase of a three-phase immunization plan, and another million doses are expected to be delivered between April and June.
Phase 2 of the program will begin in May for remaining health-care workers and essential workers at targeted health-care and long-term care clinics, as well as community clinics.
A third phase will follow for remaining Nova Scotias at clinics throughout the province. The goal is to have 75 per cent of all Nova Scotians vaccinated by the end of September.
Provincewide clinics
“Starting tomorrow (Wednesday), we will continue vaccinating frontline health-care workers and every week after that as the vaccine arrives, we will run clinics across the province to ensure our most vulnerable are vaccinated,” McNeil said at the briefing. “(From) frontline health-care workers to seniors living in long-term care and those 75 years and older living in communities.”
Strang said the “how, when and where” of the rollout may look different from region to region as officials figure out the best way to deliver and administer the vaccines.
The province received 9,550 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in December. The last delivery was Dec. 30 when 3,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine were received.
Between Dec. 16 and Jan. 2, 2,720 doses were administered to frontline health-care workers and some long-term-care staff in the central zone, where the specialized freezers needed to store the vaccines are located.
“This early vaccine has given us a chance to test our processes ahead of our Phase 1 rollout, which began on Monday,” Strang said.
Another 2,700 doses have been held back so the health-care workers can get a second shot beginning this week, which is recommended by Pfizer as the most effective immunization strategy.
Pace of immunization defended
There have been complaints that Nova Scotia has been slow in getting the vaccine out and that more staff are needed to administer the shots. Both Strang and the premier pushed back on those concerns.
"We got vaccine on Dec. 15, we immunized people that day, and we continue to immunize them," Strang said. "We set aside the appropriate amount of vaccine to start immunizing those people with the second dose. The first day we can do that is Jan. 6 and we are immunizing people starting Jan. 6."
