Nova Scotia hits 30 COVID-19 deaths this month
CBC
Nova Scotia reported three new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, bringing to 30 the total number of deaths this month due to the virus.
The new deaths announced Wednesday include a woman in her 80s in central zone, a man in his 80s in the central zone and a man in his 90s in the eastern zone.
"We've suffered significant loss of life since our last COVID-19 briefing," Premier Tim Houston said.
Thirteen people have died from COVID-19 this week.
"While it's true most Nova Scotians who have died during this wave were primarily older with underlying health conditions, that doesn't mean we do not need to be cautious," Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said. "Just the opposite. The elderly in our communities need to be valued and protected by the rest of us."
Strang said the reason there have been so many Omicron deaths when the variant has been described as mild is because of the extent of the spread.
Strang said current restrictions will remain in place until at least Feb. 14. The province is looking at lifting restrictions in a "phased approach," he said, and will keep monitoring cases and hospitalizations.
Houston said there is a path toward loosening COVID-19 restrictions, but not until next month. He said the province is looking at loosening restrictions for sports and arts and culture events some time in February.
The timeline is not dependant on government but it's dependant on the positive momentum of the booster campaign, the number of hospitalizations and overall stress on the health-care system, Houston said.
On Wednesday, the province reported 91 people in designated COVID-19 hospital units, including 15 in intensive care.
In total, there were 312 people in hospital with COVID-19:
There are two children in hospital with COVID-19, but they were admitted for another reason, Houston said.
The average age of people in hospital is 67, a news release from the province said. Of the 91 people hospitalized for COVID-19, 88 were admitted during the Omicron wave.
Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about four times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing the daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.
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