Thirteen people have died and another 13 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 20 and 26, according to New Brunswick’s weekly update.
According to the provincial COVID-19 dashboard, seven of the deaths were in Zone 1, the Moncton region. They involve a person in their 50s, a person in their 70s, a person in their 80s and four people aged 90 and over.
A person in their 80s also died in Zone 2, the Saint John region. A person in their 70s and a person aged 90 and older died in Zone 3, the Fredericton region, as well as in Zone 6, the Bathurst region.
As well, a person aged 90 and older has died in Zone 7, the Miramichi region.
The number of COVID-19-related deaths in New Brunswick have now reached 349.
As well, with 13 more hospitalizations since last week, there are now a total of 142 people in hospital. Sixty-six are in hospital because of COVID-19, while 76 patients have COVID-19 but were hospitalized for another reason.
The number of ICU patients has declined since last week by eight, leaving eight people in intensive care. Three people are on a ventilator, which is two fewer than what was reported last week.
The province also reported more than 7,000 new COVID-19 cases over the last week: 3,096 from positive PCR tests, and 4,551 from rapid tests.
Hundreds of health-care workers isolating
The dashboard also indicated that there are now 633 health-care workers who tested positive for COVID-19 and are self-isolating — a jump of more than 140 since last week.
Of those currently in isolation, 281 are from the Vitalité Health Network, 274 from Horizon Health Network, and 78 from Extra Mural-Ambulance New Brunswick.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, said she is in “close touch” with the regional health authorities about their staffing situation.
“They’re watching it very closely,” she said. “It’s stable for the moment but that is concerning for sure.”
Hospital occupancy now sits at 90 per cent, with ICU capacity at 73 per cent.
Russell added that some of the recent hospitalizations involved pregnant people. While she wasn’t aware of their vaccination status, she encouraged anyone who didn’t get their vaccine or booster to do so.
“There may still be some pregnant women out there who either didn’t get their booster dose, or may still need a first or second dose. So that’s a good message to get out there right now,” said Russell.
According to the dashboard, 93 per cent of New Brunswickers aged five and up have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 87.6 have two doses and 51.2 per cent have had a booster dose.
Number of deaths ‘not acceptable’
Since lifting all COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month, New Brunswick has seen an average of nearly two deaths per day as a result of the virus.
“That’s not an acceptable number of people to me,” said Newfoundland-based epidemiologist Susanne Gulliver in a recent interview. “There is no acceptable number.”
The deaths are “incredibly frustrating,” she said, because we already know how to prevent the deaths — we’re just not acting on that information.
“Constantly saying, ‘Oh we need to trust the epidemiology, we need to trust the epidemiology’ — the epidemiology isn’t making these decisions. People are making these decisions,” she said.
As well, she believes releasing numbers on a weekly, rather than daily basis, isn’t good enough.
“They’re telling people to use their judgement, but they’re not giving them the numbers and the information they need to make informed choices. It’s very difficult,” she said.
‘We are in a surge’
However, Dr. Russell noted that New Brunswick was not the first province to cut back on the frequency of its public reporting of COVID-19 data, nor is it an outlier.
“Every province across the country is trying to move to the once a week reporting,” she said.
Russell said her team is still monitoring the virus, even on days the COVID-19 dashboard isn’t updated. She said the information people need to consider is their own personal risk.
“We are in a surge. We’re not over the Omicron wave right now,” she said.
“All of the same public health practices and recommendations that were in place before the lifting of restrictions, they’re still really valuable in terms of individual protection and protecting their loved ones.”
Premier Blaine Higgs turned heads late last week when he told reporters: “Probably, at the end of the day, we’ll all get COVID some way or another.”
But Russell said maybe not. While she believes “pretty much everyone” will be exposed to COVID, she does think it’s possible to avoid catching it.
She said doing things like wearing a mask, washing hands, and keeping contacts low can help keep a COVID-19 exposure from becoming a COVID-19 infection.
— with files from Travis Fortnum
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