N.S. reports 82 people in COVID-19 hospital units on Saturday

Nova Scotia is reporting that there are82 people in designated COVID-19 hospital units on Saturday, including 11 people in intensive care.

The abbreviated release did not include information about the number of people admitted and discharged from hospital.

There are 287people in hospital with COVID-19:

• 82 hospitalized due to the virus.
• 84 identified as positive upon arrival, but were admitted for another medical reason, or were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require specialized care.
• 121 contracted COVID-19 while in hospital.

The average age of people in hospital is 67, the release said.Of the 82 people in hospital, 79 were admitted during the Omicron wave.

Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotiansare 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.

The province is also reporting 502 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Of these, 219are in the central health zone, 136in the western zone, 88in the eastern zoneand 59in the northern zone.

These cases were identified from3,682 tests that were completed by Nova Scotia Health labs on Friday.

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• Prince Edward Islandreported one death andsix peoplein hospital on Saturday, with one in ICU.There were 288new cases,with2,489active cases.
• New Brunswickreported six deaths and 125 hospitalizations Saturday, including 12 ICU cases.New Brunswick now has 207 COVID-19 deaths. The province reported 462 new cases on Saturday for a total of 4,926 active cases.
• Newfoundland and Labradorreported that 15 people are in hospitaldue to COVID-19. There are 283 new cases and 2,583 active cases.