New Brunswickers are being urged to continue following public health practices, even though it’s no longer required, as the province deals with community transmission of COVID-19.
Eight new cases of COVID-19 were announced Thursday. Six of them are in Zone 1, the Moncton region, where three are related to close contact with another case and three are under investigation. There are also two cases related to travel in Zone 3, the Fredericton region.
With 15 new recoveries, the number of active cases has dipped slightly to 157. Three of those involve the Delta variant while 74 involve the Alpha variant.
During a news conference Thursday, Dr. Cristin Muecke, the deputy chief medical officer of health, said the province has seen a “surge” in cases since entering the green level of its reopening plan and expressed concern about the number of cases that are under investigation.
There are currently 13 cases in the Moncton region and one case in the Fredericton region that can’t be traced back to the original source of infection.
She said the Alpha and Delta variants “are known to be more transmissible than the original version of the virus.”
With that, Muecke is encouraging people to continue practicing public health recommendations, even though restrictions have been lifted with the beginning of the green level.
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“Given our current case numbers and the evidence of community spread, I urge all New Brunswickers to continue to wear a mask when they are in indoor public spaces,” she said.
“It is true that masks are not currently required by law, as they were earlier in the pandemic. But remember, we are dealing with a communicable disease that can and will spread quickly among the unprotected.”
She noted that the majority of new cases are among people who are unvaccinated.
But due to the vaccine rollout, “we’re not seeing the concurrent increase in serious illness and hospitalizations that would jeopardize our health-care system at this time.”
Asked if the province would consider re-implementing public health restrictions during the fourth wave, Muecke said it’s an “evolving process.”
“All options are on the table and continue to be discussed,” she said. “As various measures need to be put in place, we’ll be not only discussing them but communicating that to the public.”
Nobody in ICU
On Aug. 18, Premier Blaine Higgs said hospitalizations, should they rise, would “absolutely” be a trigger in how the government would respond in terms of restrictions and the emergency order.
The number of hospitalizations rose to four on Thursday.
However, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard adjusted that message on Thursday, saying hospitalizations are low compared to case counts and no one is in the ICU.
“We have four hospitalizations, absolutely we’ll be monitoring that, but of course look at the case count and how high it is. We don’t have anyone in ICU,” she said.
In a previous interview Dr. Abdu Sharkawy said the way New Brunswick is measuring the COVID-19 pandemic now doesn’t take into account the fourth wave.
Measuring solely by hospitalizations is dangerous, he said.
“For hospitalizations, for ICU admissions, to drive our policy making — we know from how pandemics and even epidemics occur that by the time you have recognized and identified hospitalizations, ICU admissions, even deaths, as becoming notable, you have missed the boat,” he said.
Vaccine uptick
More than 74 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and almost 84 per cent have received their first dose.
During the conference, Shephard said there has been a “promising rise” in the number of people booking vaccine appointments.
As of this morning, 1.1 million doses have been administered.
She said over the past few weeks, an average of 6,000 people booked vaccine appointments, but this week the number has jumped to 8,000.
“As we head into the fall I’m hopeful that even more people will choose to get vaccinated,” she said.
“We know that this is absolutely the best tool we have to protect ourselves and our loved ones.”
— with files from Nathalie Sturgeon
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