What’s new?

To monitor data on a daily basis, see the Nova Scotia and Canadian data pages.

• Thirty-seven new cases of COVID-19 were reported today, on top of 11 cases announced yesterday and 19 cases announced over the weekend. Thirty-six cases are in the Central Zone and one case is in the Western Zone at Northeast Kings Education Centre in Canning, N.S.; the school is closing for the remainder of the week for cleaning and contact tracing
• Seventy-two per cent of cases in November have been in people aged 18 to 35
• New restrictions will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26 until midnight on Dec. 9, with the possibility of extension:
  • Nova Scotians are asked to avoid non-essential travel to other Atlantic provinces and to avoid travel in and out of western and central Halifax Regional Municipality (which is defined as HRM from Hubbards up to and including Porters Lake, and the communities up to and including Elmsdale and Mount Uniacke in Hants County)
  • The following restrictions will apply to these parts of western and central HRM:
    • The gathering limit in public is five (or up to the number of members of an immediate family in a household)
    • Mandatory masking now applies to common areas of multi-unit residential buildings, such as apartment buildings and condos
    • Restaurants and licenced establishments are closed for in-person dining
    • Retail stores must restrict shoppers and staff to 25% or less of legal capacity
    • Wineries, distilleries and breweries cannot hold tastings or in-person dining and must follow retail rules in their stores
    • Organized sports, recreational activities, athletics, arts and cultural activities, and faith-based activities are paused
    • All fitness and recreational facilities are closed
    • Libraries and museums are closed, including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
    • The casino and First Nations gaming establishments are closed
    • There will be stronger enforcement of illegal gatherings, including ticketing individual attendees (total fine of $1,000)
  • Schools, after-school programs and child care will remain open. Certain personal service businesses such as hairstylists, estheticians and nail salons in western and central HRM can continue except procedures that require a patron to remove their mask
• The following new restrictions apply across the province:
  • There will be no visitors (except volunteers and designated caregivers) to long-term care facilities and adult residential centres and regional rehabilitation centres licensed by the Department of Community Services
  • Sports teams are restricted to local or regional play only
  • No extracurricular activities between schools
• All workers and all patrons who have been at bars or restaurants in HRM after 10 p.m. in the last two weeks should book a COVID-19 test, even if they don’t have symptoms
• Due to rising cases in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have both pulled out of the Atlantic bubble. Previously the Atlantic premiers recommended caution regarding non-essential travel within the Atlantic Provinces
• There were several new potential COVID-19 exposures in HRM (see the full list of previously announced exposures here). Workers and patrons of businesses listed below should immediately self-isolate and arrange COVID-19 testing:
  • The Stubborn Goat Gastropub (1579 Grafton St., Halifax) on Nov. 15 from 4-6 p.m.
  • The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse (5136 Prince St., Halifax) on Nov. 15 from 6-9 p.m.
  • Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre (190 Chain Lake Dr., Halifax) on Nov. 16 for 6:45 p.m. showing of “Freaky”
  • Head Shoppe Halifax Shopping Centre (7001 Mumford Rd., Halifax) on Nov. 17 from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Nov. 19 from 1:30-9:30 p.m.
  • Garden Café (5475 Clyde St., Halifax) on Nov. 17 from 3-5:30 p.m.
  • Head Shoppe Lower Sackville (745 Sackville Dr., Lower Sackville) on Nov. 18 from 10:15 a.m.-noon.
  • Shanti Hot Yoga (5508 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax) Nov. 18-19 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  • Barrington Steakhouse (1662 Barrington St., Halifax) on Nov. 19 from 7:30-10:30 p.m.
  • Durty Nelly’s (1645 Argyle St., Halifax) on Nov. 19 from 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
  • Halifax Alehouse (1717 Brunswick St., Halifax) on Nov. 19 from 10:30 p.m.-close
  • Kai Brady’s aka The Fickle Frog Pub (5679 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax) on Nov. 19 from 10:30 p.m.-close.
• The Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia has asked all restaurants and bars in Halifax to close dine-in service for at least the next two weeks because of rising COVID-19 cases. Learn more

StatsCan study on health-providers experiences on PPE
Statistics Canada is researching the impact of COVID-19 on Canadian health-care workers, focusing on use and access to personal protective equipment (PPE), personal health and training, and information on PPE/infection prevention and control measures in the workplace. Learn more

Mask exemption requests
In response to a question from a member about guidance when patients request a letter of exemption for wearing a mask, the Department of Health and Wellness has responded with: “It is not encouraged to ask for a medical note as this could potentially add a significant demand on the health system. It is advised that people respect individuals who indicate that they cannot wear a mask.”

Nova Scotia Prescription Monitoring Program eAccess portal and website
There will be a planned outage for the NSPMP eAccess web application and website on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 11:59 p.m. until Dec. 5 at 12 p.m. eAccess will be down and there will be no ability to login to the system or access the website.

Online booking service now available for four more Nova Scotia Health sites
Patients can now book appointments online at Bayview Memorial Health Centre, River Hebert Blood Collection, Queens General Hospital and Roseway Hospital. This is in addition to more than 40 other Nova Scotia Health locations already offering online appointment booking. Learn more

WEBINARS
Doctors Nova Scotia-hosted webinars have ended for the time being. Watch for more information.

DNS webinar recordings
Did you miss a webinar? Recordings are available on the DNS COVID-19 info hub.

REMINDERS

• The following restrictions for long-term care facilities are in effect across the province until Dec. 21:
  • Residents can only leave their facilities for medical or dental appointments
  • A registered designated caregiver can take a resident for a sightseeing car ride but they cannot include additional passengers or stops for shopping or visits, or use drive-thrus
  • A facility can continue sightseeing outings using their vehicles, but physical distancing is required, no other passengers are permitted in the vehicle and no stops can be made, including use of drive-thrus
• Full-service restaurants and licensed establishments across the province must collect contact information from each patron, including date and time of visit, name and phone number
• Non-essential travellers from outside Atlantic Canada must self-isolate in a completely separate space with no contact or shared living spaces with the rest of the household. Otherwise, the entire household must self-isolate or the traveller must self-isolate in another location
• The following situations are now recognized as necessary travel and do not require the entire household to self-isolate with the traveller as long as a strict protocol for shared spaces is followed:
  • People who must travel for work that cannot be done virtually and don’t meet the criteria for rotational workers
  • People with legal custody arrangements that require parents or children to travel for visits
  • People receiving essential, specialized health-care treatment that is not available in Atlantic Canada
  • People participating in an essential legal proceeding outside Atlantic Canada when virtual attendance is not possible
  • Students studying outside Atlantic Canada whose primary or family residence is in Nova Scotia
• New modelling from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows there could be 60,000 new infections a day if Canadians increase their contacts. That number could be limited to 20,000 a day if Canadians maintain their current number of personal contacts
  • Each new case in Canada is spreading infection to more than one person, keeping the epidemic in a growth pattern
  • Escalating incidence among high-risk adults, aged 80 years and older
  • More and larger outbreaks (>50 individuals) affecting long-term care homes and health-care settings
  • Indigenous communities seeing rapidly rising case numbers
  • Outbreaks in schools and linked to social gatherings
  • Increasing hospitalizations following the increase in reported cases

ICYMI

Clarification of self-isolation rule for travellers
Government has provided further clarification around new self-isolation rules which took effect on Nov. 9:

• If a person travelling for non-essential reasons enters Nova Scotia from outside Atlantic Canada everyone in the home where they are self-isolating must self-isolate as well. No one in that household can leave the property for 14 days and they cannot have visitors. This means no school, no shopping and no work outside the home
• Examples of non-essential travel include vacations, visits, pickups or drop-offs of non-essential items, and so on
• Examples of essential travel include certain types of work (such as by exempt, rotational or specialized workers) or attending an immediate family member’s funeral
• If the shared home a traveller is isolating in has a completely separate living space with its own amenities and entrance, then other family members may be exempt from self-isolating with the individual who has returned to the Atlantic bubble. The isolating person cannot leave their designated private area
• See the attached PDF for more details on self-isolating in a hotel and finishing it in a home, taking a walk outside while self-isolating, driving a traveller back from the airport, and international travellers

Free PPE extended until end of 2020
Government will supply community physicians with free personal protective equipment (PPE) for this flu season until Dec. 31. This includes gloves for administering intranasal influenza vaccine and additional medical masks, gowns, gloves, hand sanitizer and face shields for providing first aid and/or emergency assistance. Community physicians can click here to submit a request to the Department of Health and Wellness for additional PPE supplies for administering flu vaccinations; either update a previous request or make a new one. Your organization will be notified by email of the approved supply and instructions for online ordering. For more information, email PPErequest@novascotia.ca.

DNS staff, meetings and events
All DNS meetings and events have moved to a virtual format. You may reach staff by email or by calling 902-468-1866 or toll free at 1-800-563-3427.

Resources
See the DNS COVID-19 info hub for a complete list of COVID-19 resources.

Information hubs to watch

• Nova Scotia Health updates and service cancellations
• IWK updates and service cancellations
• Doctor Nova Scotia updates and information
• Dalhousie CPD COVID-19 webpage
• Department of Health and Wellness
• 811 assessment online assessment
• Government of Canada
• Canadian Medical Association
• Canadian Pediatric Society COVID-19 resources for the care of children