Total of 84 residents, staff now positive for COVD-19 at Northwood Manor

The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Northwood Manor in Halifax has climbed to 84 as of Friday.

An update from the company says that 51 residents at the facility have now tested positive, an increase of 9 since results were released on Thursday.

In addition, 33 staff members at the Halifax long-term care facility have now tested positive. That’s an increase of 7 since Thursday.

Northwood says that testing is ongoing and that they continue to test more of their health services staff.

The latest figures are part of an ongoing trend of long term care facilities being at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nova Scotia.

As of Friday, there were eight licensed long-term care homes in Nova Scotia with cases of COVID-19. There were seven on Thursday.

That includes at least 12 employees and two residents at the Admiral Long Term Care Centre.

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Chief public health officer Dr. Robert Strang says the province will begin reporting the number of COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia long-term care facilities on a daily basis.

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.

–With files from Global News’ Graeme Benjamin 

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