Posted: Feb 28, 2021 3:18 PM AT | Last Updated: February 28
A technician places rapid COVID-19 swabs into a test tube container on Nov. 24, 2020, at Dalhousie University in Halifax.(Robert Short/CBC)
Nova Scotia reported record-high testing numbers and three new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, a tally that comes as the Halifax region and some surrounding communities entered a second day of tighter restrictions.
One new case was in the central health zone and is a close contact of a previously reported case, according to a Department of Health news release. The northern health zone and eastern health zone had one case each, both related to travel outside the region. All the new cases are self-isolating.
HALIFAX With more COVID-19 cases being announced in the Halifax area, transit workers are wondering why a pop-up testing site dedicated to them isn t being set up. Halifax’s transit union questions why its members aren t getting the same treatment after multiple routes became possible exposure sites. Its president says drivers who want to get tested have been told do it on their own time, or leave work but they won’t be paid. There seems to be a different set of rules for different players, said Ken Wilson, president of ATU Local 508. An internal memo obtained by CTV News shows public health assured transit workers the risk to operators is low and due to the low risk of exposure, operators are not required to be tested. However it is recommended.
HALIFAX Irving Shipbuilding has confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 at their Halifax location on Thursday. In a news release from the company, they say an employee who works at the Halifax Shipyard has tested positive for COVID-19. That person is self-isolating, as required. Per contact tracing protocols, Nova Scotia Health reached out directly to the members of the person s crew late this morning and directed the crew of 15 people to go home, self-isolate and schedule COVID-19 tests, wrote the company in a news release on Thursday. It was after this initial outreach that we first became aware of the positive COVID-19 case.
HALIFAX Canada’s auditor general has released a report into Ottawa’s national shipbuilding strategy, finding the strategy has been slow to deliver replacement vessels for the country’s aging Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Karen Hogan’s audit covered Jan. 1, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2020 – before the pandemic began – and looked at whether the federal government was doing enough to handle continual shipbuilding delays. Her report did not focus on the industry’s role. Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy was officially launched a decade ago, with Irving Shipbuilding selected in 2011 to build 15 Canadian surface combatants. But work on those vessels has yet to begin, with delivery of the first not expected until 2030.