{"id":3487,"date":"2020-04-21T17:29:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T20:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=3487"},"modified":"2020-04-21T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T20:51:09","slug":"covid-19-update-april-21-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2020\/04\/21\/covid-19-update-april-21-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Update April 21, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of Nova Scotians who have died as a result of COVID-19 is now 10 following the passing of another resident at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The province reports sixteen new cases were identified Monday, bringing the total number to 737.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That marks a sharp decline in new cases after that number spiked to 46 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seniors care homes continue to be a hotbed for outbreaks as 128 residents and 62 staff at 10 different facilities across Nova Scotia have tested positive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The microbiology lab at the QEII Health Sciences Centre is running 24 hours a day and completed another 516 tests Monday which is about half of its capacity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang says part of the decline in people getting tested can be attributed to this weekend\u2019s tragic events, but also to the change in season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are coming to the end of our flu season, so we have less people that may get the symptoms that are on our list, fever and cough, that we\u2019re asking them if they get those to go get tested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Robert Strang<\/p><\/div>\n

Eleven people are currently in hospital being treated for COVID-19, three of those in ICU.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nova Scotia has recorded 22,190 negative test results to this point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two hundred eighty-six people have recovered from the virus and their cases are considered resolved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Strang says while some jurisdictions are looking to ease up on their restrictions, we are not nearly out of the woods yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be prepared, as I\u2019ve been saying, as public health folks across the world have been saying, this is quite likely the next 12 \u2013 18 months as we deal with this, \u2018til we finally get a high enough level of immunity in our population that COVID no longer becomes an area of major concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strang raised concerns about stories his heard of people being afraid to go to hospitals or doctors offices for fear of catching the virus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let your health care needs just sit unattended to if you need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the briefing reporters questioned Premier Stephen McNeil about the tragic shooting spree this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Premier Stephen McNeil prepares to give the latest COVID-19 update<\/p><\/div>\n

The premier was asked why an emergency alert was not sent through the emergency system to resident\u2019s cell phones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McNeil says emergency staff were ready, but didn\u2019t receive the necessary instructions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe lead agency, in this case the RCMP has to ask for that alert to go out because quite frankly, we need the information from them. What is it they want in that alert to notify to citizens? But we had staff on hand in the morning to be able to do that, but it was not requested.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Premier encouraged Nova Scotians to not let this act of violence define us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I had a message for Nova Scotians it is, to not to let the individual define us, but to let the spirits of the victims define us. They were community-minded people who cared and loved for each other, and supported one another, and were building a life for themselves and the community, making a difference in this province. That\u2019s what we should be working towards to let define this tragedy that has been brought to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Premier McNeil and Dr. Strang ended the briefing with a moment of silence in honour of the victims, their families and friends.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Premier McNeil and Robert Strang observe a moment of silence<\/p><\/div>\n

Reported by Ed Halverson\u00a0<\/strong>
\nE-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nTwitter: @edwardhalverson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of Nova Scotians who have died as a result of COVID-19 is now 10 following the passing of another resident at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax.   The province reports sixteen new cases were identified Monday, bringing the total number to 737.   That marks a sharp decline in new cases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3487"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3496,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487\/revisions\/3496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}