May 20 COVID-19 Update

Nova Scotia Update:
1 new death
0 new hospitalizations, 1 released (8 total)
0 new ICU cases, 1 moved back to regular bed (4 total)
1 new case (1045 total)
353 tests done
0 new recoveries (956 total)
32 active cases (no change, 3% of cases are active, 97% are concluded)

NS has 1 new death today, it occurred at Northwood. 51/57 (89%) NS deaths are from Northwood and 55/57 (96%) are from long term care in general (11 different facilities are now reporting cases, 2 with active cases). Outside of LTC, the story is the same - NS continues to perform very well day after day with no deaths and limited, if any new cases. Yesterday, 353 tests were completed with just 1 new case reported. 97% (+1%) of ALL cases since day 1 are now concluded. As of today, there are just 32 active cases in TOTAL, 9 of which are outside LTC.

**Because there are no new recoveries today, and since Northwood recoveries are a day behind, (so we have their data from yesterday) we can now be confident that 9 active cases outside LTC is in fact correct as of today. There are currently 8 people in hospital but some of those are speculated to be Northwood staff. Also, as of yesterday there were 5 active cases (part of the 9) across the province for health care staff in various hospitals.

From the press release today:
It is always important that the people of Nova Scotia adhere strictly to public health ordinances and directives, that is, to adopt good hygienic measures, to remain at a distance of two meters or six feet from anyone who does not part of your household or your close family unit and limit the social gatherings planned to five people or less if these people are not part of your household or your close family unit.

What this means - You can bubble with one other household with no social distancing required. You can meet up with anyone else, providing you maintain social distance and the overall gathering size is not more than 5 people. Also, sharing food and drinks is discouraged.

- NS has 57 deaths, making the death rate 57/1M population
- Canada's rate sitting at 157/1M
- Global rate is 41.8/1M
- US rate is 280/1M
- Austria rate is 72/1M
- Spain is 586/1M
- Sweden is 366/1M

Notable points for today:
- Spain's rate of increase still just 0.4%, which is well under 1%, for the 18th straight day and 5th day in a row under 0.5%!
- Austria had 3 deaths, and has maintained an increase under 0.5% for 11 days in a row!
- The rate of increase in Canada is just over 1%. This marks 12 days in a row under 4%, 8 of them under 3% including the last 3 in a row under 2%.
- The US rate of increase had a bit of a spike yesterday, still well under 2%, and are at 12 days in a row just slightly over 2% (or less). They are still not close to the 3000 daily deaths that were projected once reopening began.
- Sweden's increase inched up over 1%, meaning 9 of the last 11 days are under 2% including the last 4 in a row.