Five more New Brunswickers have died of COVID-19, the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 has doubled in the past week, and the number of active hospitalizations has also increased as Omicron’s BA.5 and BA.4 subvariants continue to accept detention, data released Tuesday showed.
Hospital-based outbreaks of COVID continue to rise, as does the number of health care workers out of work due to the virus, the province’s COVIDWatch report shows.
The latest deaths include three people in their 70s and two in their 80s. Their deaths bring the pandemic’s death toll to 438.
Thirty people were newly admitted to hospital for the virus between July 10 and July 16, up from 15 the previous week.
The number of people currently hospitalized due to the virus has also increased in the past week to 22 from 17, including one who needs intensive care, according to the province.
Meanwhile, health networks Horizon and Vitalité reported 114 hospitalized COVID patients as of Saturday, four of whom required intensive care, up from 95 and seven, respectively, a week earlier.
This includes patients who were admitted for COVID, as well as those who were initially admitted for another reason and later tested positive for the virus.
“I think overall the picture we’re getting from this week’s report continues to suggest we’re in a period of increased activity across the province,” said Dr. Yves Leger, who has been acting chief medical officer for two weeks .
Dr Yves Léger, who has been acting chief medical officer for two weeks, is urging people to wear masks in indoor public places. (Pascal Reiche-Nog/Radio-Canada)
Last Tuesday, Chief Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Russell said there were indications that New Brunswick was at the beginning of a period of “increased activity” of COVID-19, driven by Omicron’s highly transmissible sub-variants BA.5 and BA.4, but she did not call it a new wave of the pandemic.
The fact that the increases are happening now, instead of in the fall as previously predicted, points to the fact that it’s hard to predict, Leger said.
“I think as a province it’s important for New Brunswickers to understand that this is what we’re going to have to contend with.” And it’s important that we pay attention to what’s going on so they can take the appropriate measures to protect themselves.”
This includes masking in indoor public places, he said.
“Absolutely. … Even though we’re not talking about mandates, that still doesn’t change the fact that these are still important measures that we know are working to protect New Brunswickers, especially during this time.”
Fewer new cases, but an increase in active cases
The number of new reported cases of COVID-19 fell slightly in the past week to 2,324 from 2,465.
This includes 1,004 cases confirmed by a laboratory PCR test (a decrease of 1,044) and 1,320 cases reported by people who tested positive for a rapid test (a decrease of 1,421).
There are now 1,506 active cases across the province, based on PCR cases alone, compared to 1,382 a week ago.
Omicron BA.5 accounted for 57 percent of the most recent random samples sent for sequencing, while BA.4 accounted for 22 percent, according to this week’s report. BA.2 was detected in 21 percent of the samples.
The largest share of those hospitalized for COVID-19 is among persons aged 70-89, the report states.
“Vaccine-unprotected individuals continue to have the highest rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and death.”
Vaccination stopped
Last Tuesday, the province announced it was expanding eligibility for a fourth dose to all New Brunswickers 18 or older, provided it’s been at least five months since their last dose. The decision to reduce eligibility for a fourth dose from 50 was based on increasing risk, officials said.
But so far, only 23 percent of New Brunswickers age 50 or older have had their second booster, down from 21.7 percent a week ago, Legere said.
“For now, we don’t see many people on our dashboard [under 50] more,” he said. “So I’m not sure if the numbers are not caught there, if they’re pretty low that they’re not registering yet. But certainly, you know, I think the numbers are probably not too high at this point.”
Only 576 first, second and third doses were administered this week, too few to change those vaccination rates. A total of 93.3 percent of eligible New Brunswick residents received their first vaccine, 88.2 percent received two vaccines, and 52.9 percent received three vaccines.
New Brunswick has had 70,541 confirmed cases of COVID since the start of the pandemic, with 68,597 cases considered resolved so far.
Hospitalizations, outbreaks, sick workers
Horizon had 84 active COVID-19 admissions as of Saturday, up from 78, including two in intensive care, down from six, according to the COVID Dashboard.
The distribution of cases includes:
- Moncton Region, Zone 1 — .28
- St. John’s Region, Zone 2 — .36
- Fredericton Region Zone 3 – 10
- Miramichi Region, Zone 7-10
The dashboard does not provide details on which hospitals have patients.
Vitalité had 30 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Saturday, up from 17, including two in intensive care, up from one, the COVID-19 dashboard showed.
Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center in the Moncton area, zone 1, has six patients, including two in intensive care, Edmundston Regional Hospital in zone 4 has five patients, Campbellton Regional Hospital in zone 5 has seven patients, and in the Bathurst area, Zone 5, Chaleur Regional Hospital has one patient, while Tracadie Hospital has 11 patients, the dashboard shows.
There are now outbreaks of COVID-19 in 22 hospital wards across the province, down from 19.
Seventeen of them are in “Horizon” hospitals. The distribution includes:
- Moncton Region Zone 1 — Six
- St. John’s Region, Zone 2 — Seven
- Fredericton Region, Zone 3 — Two
- Miramichi Region, Zone 7 — .Two
There are no details on the dashboard about the location of the outbreaks.
Vitalité has five hearth compartments.
These include: a new outbreak in the General Surgery Unit 4A of the University Hospital Center Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont, as well as the Tracadie Hospital Medical Unit and the 2nd North Unit; Campbellton Regional Hospital Geriatric Unit and Restigouche Hospital Centre’s C-1 Long Term Rehabilitation Unit.
The number of healthcare workers who have left work after testing positive for COVID-19 or coming into contact with a positive case continues to rise and is now 229, compared to 204 a week ago.
88 of them work in Horizon, compared to 83 in the previous report. No breakdown provided.
The remaining 141 work for Vitalité, up from 121.
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