New Brunswick announced on Friday two more people have died of COVID-19. This brings the number of COVID-related deaths in the province to 72.
A person has died between the ages of 80 and 89 in Zone 1 (Moncton region), along with a person 90 and over in Zone 5 (Campbellton region).
The province also reported Friday 130 new cases of COVID-19 Friday and 72 recoveries. The number of active cases is now at 881.
Of the new cases, 76 – or 58 per cent – are from people unvaccinated, 15 – or 12 per cent – are from people partially vaccinated, and 39 – or 30 per cent – are from people fully vaccinated.
There are 58 people hospitalized due to the virus, with 30 intensive care unit. No one under the age of 19 is currently hospitalized.
Of those in hospital, 43 are unvaccinated, four are partially vaccinated and 11 are fully vaccinated.
As of Friday, 81.2 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are fully vaccinated and 90.3 per cent have received their first vaccine dose.
Circuit breaker in areas with high transmission
Due to the high number of COVID-19 transmissions, a circuit breaker will be put in place in certain areas of the province for 14 days beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.
The areas that will be impacted are Zone 1 (Moncton region) as far north as and including Sainte-Anne-de-Kent and including Havelock in Zone 2; the northern portion of Zone 3 from and including Deerville and Florenceville-Bristol; and all of Zone 4 (Edmundston region), including Menneval in Zone 5.
Horizon hospitals returning to red alert level
Horizon Health Network said all of its hospitals and health care facilities will return to red alert level protocols as of Oct. 13 due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
These measures will be in place for two weeks and then reassessed at that time.
“While we are prepared to deal with surges and outbreaks, the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to have a major effect on our already-stressed health care system,” said Dr. John Dornan, Horizon’s interim President and CEO, in a release issued Friday.
“Returning to these Red alert level protocols will allow us to redeploy staff to maintain our emergency services and ICUs, caring for COVID-19 patients and those who are critically-ill,” he added.
This means:
- Some non-urgent medical procedures and elective surgeries may be postponed.
- Non-urgent Ambulatory Outpatient Clinics and professional service outpatient appointments, including therapeutic services, blood and specimen collection, diagnostic imaging (X-ray), electrodiagnostics and respiratory therapy, may also be postponed.
- There will be no visitors allowed in hospitals, as was announced on Oct. 7, and is effective as of Oct. 8. Some exceptions to these visitor restrictions are in place for patients who are eligible for a designated support person.
- All patients, clients and support persons will continue to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and asked a series of questions upon entry to our facilities.
- Patients are urged to seek alternate options for non-urgent health care needs, rather than presenting to an Emergency Department/Urgent Care Centre.
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