New Brunswick health officials reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, including 11 in the Edmundston region.
Those 11 cases are all close contacts of previously reported cases. The other case is located in the Fredericton region and is related to travel.
To date, the province has confirmed 1,613 cases of COVID-19 and has seen 1,447 recoveries.
There have been 30 deaths linked to the virus in New Brunswick, and the number of active cases is 135. Five patients are hospitalized, two of which are in intensive care, according to the province.
On Tuesday, 1,589 tests for COVID-19 were completed for a total of 256,317 tests since the pandemic began.
Provincial health officials remind New Brunswickers to follow public health guidelines ahead of the long weekend.
“The temptation to gather with friends and loved ones will be great this weekend,” said Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, in a news release.
“Let’s work together to fight COVID-19 by observing the Easter weekend safely and keeping our contacts low.
“We have come so far through this pandemic and we now have vaccinations taking place. Let’s not risk falling backwards through laxness in safety protocols.”
According to the province, all high school staff who were able to participate in vaccination clinics last week will resume in-person learning on April 12.
High school staff in the Bathurst region will have access to a vaccination clinic on Thursday, and staff in the Shediac region on Saturday.
“To allow for the 14 days to pass after receiving the vaccination, the return to full-time, in-person learning at these high schools will resume on April 19,” the province said.
Thursday’s clinic will be made available for staff of the following schools in the Bathrust region:
- Dalhousie Regional High School
- Sugarloaf Senior High School in Campbellton
- École Aux Quatre Vents in Dalhousie
- Polyvalente Roland-Pépin in Campbellton
- Bathurst High School
- École Secondaire Népisiguit in Bathurst
The province says clinics in the Shediac region will be available for staff from the following schools on Saturday:
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- Bonar Law Memorial High School in Rexton
- École Mgr-Marcel-François-Richard in Saint-Louis de Kent
- École Clément-Cormier in Bouctouche
- Polyvalente Louis-J.-Robichaud in Shediac
“In the coming weeks, additional vaccination clinics will be available for staff in elementary and middle schools, including bus drivers, and for early childhood service providers and child-care staff,” the province said.
Higgs receives AstraZeneca vaccine
(The Canadian Press)
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs got his first shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday.
“You mean it’s all over?” he asked licensed practical nurse Brenda Tree. “Wow. Very good,” Higgs said.
Higgs was among about 200 people over the age of 55 who were offered the vaccine at a clinic in Fredericton. Many of the doses had originally been destined for teachers until earlier this week, when the National Advisory Committee on Immunization advised not giving that vaccine to people under 55.
In rare cases, some people have developed blood clots after getting vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, but there have been no such cases reported in Canada.
“I’ve said repeatedly about any vaccine is what we need to have available. We need to make use of it and when I had the opportunity today I made use of it,” Higgs told reporters.
Many of the unused AstraZeneca doses in New Brunswick had an expiry date of April 2, so the government set up several clinics to avoid them going to waste. “We want to make sure everyone gets their vaccine,” Higgs said. “We don’t want any lost or unused. Turnout today has been good.”
Higgs said if he was going to advise people to get the vaccine, he had to be comfortable getting one himself.
“Everyone is tired of COVID and we want to get opened up to the rest of the country,” Higgs said. “We can’t do that unless we get vaccinated up to the 75 per cent level.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2021.
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