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TABLE NOTES The totals for the health zones (Northern, Eastern, Western, Central) may be different than the totals you d get by adding up the numbers in the Community Health Networks that make up each zone, because the province doesn t track all cases at the community network level. The zone totals reflect every case in the area; the community network numbers only show cases that can be localized to a region inside the bigger area. The names of the community networks here have been adapted/shortened for simplicity (click to download the province s PDF map with the exhaustively complete network names). All data comes from the Nova Scotia COVID-19 data page. We use a dash (-) instead of a zero (0) where applicable in the health network numbers to make the table easier to read.
Map of COVID-19 cases reported in Nova Scotia as of March 31, 2021. Legend here. THE COAST
2 new cases March 31 as the humans win the month
Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 numbers as of Wednesday. With a new case in the Halifax community health network and another in the Lunenburg network (check our table below), the province is announcing two infections today. Both cases are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada, says Wednesday s daily update. The people are self-isolating, as required. Three patients recovered since yesterday s report, so the number of active cases in Nova Scotia fell to 23. (For the fourth day in a row, the province say one of those patients is in the hospital due to COVID-19.) And it s the last day of March, so we can do the tally and discover the coronavirus got 75 new infections in the month, while 89 people recovered from the disease, so the humans win!
To honour the whimsical start of April, every sign gets two readings this week (no kidding). HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Gerard MacNeil and Julia-Simone Rutgers. This is a slow week for birthdays no fooling so it s extra-important that you spread some love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope
ARIES
(March 21-April 19) Playwright August Strindberg (1849– 1912) was a maverick innovator who loved to experiment with plot and language. One of his stories takes place in a dream and the hero is the Christ-like daughter of a Vedic god. He once said that he felt an immense need to become a savage and create a new world. Given your current astrological potentials, Aries, I suspect that might be an apt motto for you right now. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. There s no need for you to become a savage. In fact, it s better if you don t. But the coming weeks will definitely be a good time to start
Halifax’s Ben Proudfoot’s documentary short gets Oscar nom. It’s a good week to be Ben Proudfoot: The Halifax-raised filmmaker co-directed the 2021 documentary short
A Concerto is a Conversation, which is now up for an Oscar, as announced Monday by The Academy. (Arguably, though, Proudfoot has already won the ultimate prize by working alongside the Oscar-winning filmmaker Ava Duvernay, the genius behind
13th,
When They See Us, as Duvernay has an executive producer credit on the doc.)
A Concerto is a Conversation is Proudfoot’s first nod from the Oscars. It follows a jazz pianist’s family lineage from Jim Crow-era Florida to the Walt Disney concert hall. Released through the New York Times’ Op-Doc series, you can watch the full 13 minute film on the NYT’s YouTube channel.
The province decided to prioritize people without stable housing, who were originally in the “expanded access” phase. On March 16, premier Iain Rankin announced that hundreds of vaccines will soon be going to people staying in shelters in HRM. “We’ll be providing vaccine early April to about 300 people in the Halifax area who are in homeless shelters,” he said at Tuesday’s regular COVID-19 briefing with top doc Robert Strang. “We’ll also offer vaccine to people who work and volunteer in these shelters.” According to the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia there are an estimated 421 unhoused people living in HRM, 329 of whom are defined as “chronically homeless,” meaning it’s been more than six months.