Nova Scotia is upping how and where it tests people for COVID-19 in the wake of community spread in the province.
The increase in testing comes after Nova Scotia confirmed 55 new cases with two of the largest single-day jumps in the province — 29 cases on Saturday and 26 on Sunday.
Among the new cases are employees at Arborstone Enhanced Care in Halifax and Harris Hall in Dartmouth and an employee at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow, while some staff at the IWK Health Centre were given a notice “to alert them to a COVID-19 exposure” at the pediatric hospital.
The 262 people range in age from under 10 to over 90. Six people are currently in hospital, while 53 people have recovered and their cases are considered resolved.
Starting Monday, the QEII Health Science Centre’s microbiology lab in Halifax will be operating 24/7.
“Expanding our testing options means we have the ability to act quickly if we're seeing clusters of disease in communities or locations and ensures we're able to accommodate vulnerable Nova Scotians and those living in harder-to-reach communities,” Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference in Halifax on Sunday.
Temporary assessment centres will be set up in communities that have “increased disease activity, but there isn’t a centre in close proximity,” Strang said.
The first temporary assessment centre was opened in Elmsdale for residents of East Hants, where a restaurant employee and three staff members and two residents at a residential care home have tested positive.
“How long these centres stay open in any one community will depend on the disease activity and the needs of the community,” Strang said, adding people will still need to be referred to a centre by 811 or a primary care physician and be scheduled for an appointment.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority is also working on a mobile assessment unit that would be able to set up in a community for temporary testing and screening.
EHS also has two mobile units, one in Halifax Regional Municipality and one in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and two SUVs staffed by paramedics for at-home testing for people with mobility issues or group testing in a place such as a long-term-care facility.
To date, Nova Scotia has 9,510 negative results.
“But testing is only half the battle,” Strang said.
“We can’t be fooled simply knowing how many people have the virus and getting them to self-isolate will completely slow this virus down. We have to continue with the public health measures.”
Premier Stephen McNeil said he was pleased, but also surprised, to hear law enforcement handed out “dozens of tickets” to people who are not social distancing or adhering to public health measures over the weekend.
Strang said he recently read a paper saying public health measures will only have an impact if at least 80 per cent of the population is following them.
“All it takes is a slip down to 70 per cent of the population adhering to public health measures and 30 per cent not," to render the public health measures totally ineffective, he said.
“Every single Nova Scotian needs to do their part. It doesn’t take very many of us not doing what we need to do and that hard work that everybody else is doing and the pain and sacrifice that everybody is doing is for naught.”
