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N.S. reports 581 cases of COVID-19 Monday, testing changes come into effect – CTV News Atlantic
HALIFAX –
The province of Nova Scotia is reporting 581 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
Public health says there are 420 cases in Central Zone, 62 cases in Eastern Zone, 42 cases in Northern Zone and 57 cases in Western Zone.
There were 4,851 tests completed on Sunday, Dec. 26.
Public health is also reporting an outbreak at a ward at the Halifax Infirmary site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre. There are currently less than five patients impacted. They are being closely monitored and other infection prevention and control measures are being put in place.
Nova Scotia Public Health is experiencing delays in follow-up because of a spike in testing and positive cases. The province is asking positive cases to contact their close contacts. The province says detailed follow-ups are being prioritized to support contact tracing in long-term care, healthcare facilities, correctional facilities, shelters and other group settings.
The province’s online COVID-19 dashboard will not be updated until Wednesday.
MAJOR SHIFT IN N.S. COVID-19 TESTING STRATEGY
Going forward, lab-processed COVID-19 tests – known as PCR tests – will be reserved for people deemed highest risk, while the rest of Nova Scotians who are close contacts, or have symptoms, will be asked to book an appointment to pick up a rapid test kit to test themselves at home.
The change comes as lab resources hit capacity and COVID-19 cases continue to climb.
“Know when you do need a test, the test will be there for you. It’s just going to look a little different,” says Holly Gillis, Public Health Manager with Public Health Mobile Units with Nova Scotia Health Authority.
Rapid take home test kits can be picked up by appointment at one of 30 test centres across the province after calling 811, or completing a COVID screening self-assessment. Each box contains five tests, which allows for a person to test themselves every 24 to 48 hours for a week.
Public health is urging people not to hoard tests and to use tests when necessary – such as if they have symptoms or have been identified as a close contact – and to limit contacts.
“Take-home rapid appointments are really for people who have symptoms, or who are identified as a close contact,” says Gillis.
Anyone who tests positive is being asked to self-isolate and notify their close contacts as well as public health by emailing PublicHealthPOCT@nshealth.ca and include your name, date of birth, health card number and contact information.
To be eligible for a PCR test you must have symptoms, or have been identified as close contacts, and be one of the following:
– 50 years and over
– Unvaccinated (less than full vaccine series) and age 12 or older
– Live or work in the following congregate settings:
- Long-term care home
- Residential care facilities
- Corrections
- Shelters and transition houses
- Acute care settings
– Adult First Nations and African Nova Scotians
– Front line health care workers with direct patient care (i.e. family physicians, nurse practitioners, dentist) and First Responders
– Adults 18-49 year with one or more risk factors for severe disease:
- Obesity (BMI >30 kg/m2)
- Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
- Chronic lung disease, including poorly controlled asthma (e.g. on medication or hospitalization within the past 12 months)
- Chronic kidney disease, including those on dialysis
- Downs Syndrome
- Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis, Huntington’s Disease
- Immunocompromised or receiving immunosuppressive therapy
- Children and youth under age 18 with any of the following conditions:
- history of prematurity < 29 weeks
- Chronic lung disease including chronic lung disease of prematurity, cystic fibrosis, and severe asthma
- Downs Syndrome
- Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis
- Obesity (BMI >30kg/m2)
– Pregnant
PCR tests are also available for people required to get one for a medical procedure or partially or unvaccinated travellers who need two negative PCR tests to stop isolating after at least seven days.
Tesla has promised to start selling cheaper models next year, days after a Reuters report revealed that the company had shelved its plans for an all-new Tesla that would cost only $25,000.
The news that Tesla was scrapping the Model 2 came amid a drop in sales and profits, and a decision to slash a tenth of the company’s global workforce. Reuters also noted increased competition from Chinese EV makers.
Tesla’s deliveries slumped in the first quarter for the first annual drop since the start of the pandemic in 2020, missing analyst forecasts by a mile in a sign that even price cuts haven’t been able to stave off an increasingly heated competition on the EV market.
Profits dropped by 50%, disappointing investors and leading to a slump in the company’s share prices, which made any good news urgently needed. Tesla delivered: it said it would bring forward the date for the release of new, lower-cost models. These would be produced on its existing platform and rolled out in the second half of 2025, per the BBC.
Reuters cited the company as warning that this change of plans could “result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected,” however. This suggests the price tag of the new models is unlikely to be as small as the $25,000 promised for the Model 2.
The decision is based on a substantially reduced risk appetite in Tesla’s management, likely affected by the recent financial results and the intensifying competition with Chinese EV makers. Shelving the Model 2 and opting instead for cars to be produced on existing manufacturing lines is the safer move in these “uncertain times”, per the company.
Tesla is also cutting prices, as many other EV makers are doing amid a palpable decline in sales in key markets such as Europe, where the phaseout of subsidies has hit demand for EVs seriously. The cut is of about $2,000 on all models that Tesla currently sells.
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Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
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Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
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They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
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They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
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