N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 1 death, hospitalizations, ICU and ventilator cases all rise

New Brunswick recorded another COVID-related death Friday, and the number of people in hospital, in intensive care and on a ventilator all increased slightly.

The seven-day average of COVID-related hospitalizations jumped to 89 from 82, while the seven-day average of people requiring intensive care remained steady for a fourth straight day at four.

The new death is a person in their 70s in the Fredericton region, Zone 3.

There are 92 people in hospital, up four, including 44 admitted for COVID-19 and 48 admitted for something else when they tested positive for the virus.

Eight people require intensive care, up two, and five of them are on ventilators, up three.

New Brunswick is set to lift all COVID restrictions, including mask mandates and gathering limits, in 10 days, when the emergency order ends.

Two of the people hospitalized are aged 19 or under. There are also five people in their 20s, four in their 30s, eight in their 40s, five in their 50s, 20 in their 60s, 17 in their 70s, 17 in their 80s, and six in their 90s.

In ICU, there's a person in their 30s, one in their 40s, four in their 60s, and two in their 70s.

Across the province, 541 health-care workers are off the job, isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, 13 more than on Thursday. These include 293 with Horizon Health Network, 174 with Vitalité Health Network, and 74 with Extra-Mural and Ambulance New Brunswick.

Hospital occupancy remained stable at 92 per cent, while ICU occupancy dropped to 69 per 76 per cent.

Public Health confirmed 391 new cases of COVID-19 through lab-based PCR tests, putting the active case count at 3,892, an increase of 175.

An additional 562 people self-reported testing positive on rapid tests.

The regional breakdown of PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region, Zone 1

• 130 new cases and 1,337 active cases

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 95 new cases and 871 active cases

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 88 new cases and 855 active cases

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• 22 new cases and 193 active cases

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 20 new cases and 146 active cases

Bathurst region, Zone 6

• 25 new cases and 337 active cases

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 11 new cases and 153 active cases

As of Friday, 50.3 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, up from 50.2 per cent, 87.2 per cent have received two vaccine doses, up from 87.1 per cent, and 92.9 per cent have received one dose, unchanged.

A total of 738,442 PCR tests have been conducted to date, including 1,729 on Thursday.

New Brunswick has had 38,937 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with 34,734 recoveries so far and 309 COVID-related deaths.

Some COVID-related March Break travel delays could mean unpaid leave

If a teacher or other provincial employee is delayed returning from March Break because they travelled to an international location despite federal warnings about the risk of delays related to COVID-19, such as contracting the virus or having to isolate, they won't be able to use sick leave, the Treasury Board has confirmed.

Last month, the New Brunswick Teachers' Federation sent a notice to teachers, reminding them that while the province has no restrictions on travel, they should not make any reservations until they receive approval from the district "in order to avoid an unpleasant surprise."

"All requests for leaves of absence with or without pay must be approved prior to finalizing your travel plans," the notice, obtained by CBC News, states.

"Further, if a teacher must stay at their destination longer than expected, for example, if they contract COVID or have been in close contact with a positive case, or if they must isolate themselves upon return from travel due to COVID, please note that this leave could be unpaid."

Connie Keating, co-president of the federation, told CBC that teachers who are unable to return from their March Break destination on time, regardless of the reason, "have always been subject to the possibility of unpaid leave." She cited inclement weather, mechanical difficulties and cancelled flights as examples.

"This year, the employer has also identified COVID as a possible cause of delay when travelling," said Keating.

"While many other government employees would have the discretion of requesting vacation and flex time or overtime, these options are simply not available to teachers," she said in an emailed statement. "This has always been an issue when unforeseen circumstances occur, which has been further complicated by COVID-19.

"The NBTF wanted to make sure that teachers were aware so that informed decisions could be made regarding travel during the March Break."

Erika Jutras, spokesperson for the Treasury Board, said for travel within Canada, if an employee gets sick and cannot report to work, they can use sick leave. There are no isolation requirements for in-country travel, she noted.

For international travel, however, the federal government still has "travel advisories whereby an employee may be required to stay at their international destination longer than planned due to Canadian government or local requirements (i.e whatever rules might be in place at their travel destination)," Jutras said in an emailed statement.

This is not a teacher-specific policy, it applies to all GNB employees and has been in place since the start of the pandemic.- Erika Jutras, Treasury Board spokesperson

"If an employee must miss work time in these circumstances (i.e. is not available for work because they travelled internationally knowing the risk of delayed return), they need to use personal time (e.g. vacation, banked overtime, unpaid leave)," she said.

"This is not a teacher-specific policy, it applies to all GNB employees and has been in place since the start of the pandemic."

Last week, Keating, who is also president of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association, said supply teachers can't fill the demand left by staff self-isolating because of COVID.

The province has offered full-time supply teachers to schools to help with positions left unfulfilled during the latest outbreaks, she said, but it's not enough.

"This certainly isn't meeting the demand, and teachers at this point are wondering if there'll be guarantees of these supply teachers still being made available after the March Break."

Special care homes plan to 'proceed with caution'

Special care homes are facing uncertainty as the date for lifting COVID-19 restrictions approaches, says the president of the provincial association.

The government's emergency order expires on March 14, but Jan Seeley said care homes want to take things slowly.

Staff screening and masking will continue, along with infection control protocols.

"Whatever we can do to keep COVID out of the building, we're trying to do," said Seeley.

"I know that Omicron has been less severe and many people feel that it's, you know, a common cold. The problem is when we have [even] just two cases that are positive, then everybody's isolated again.

"And I'm sure that the public can understand how difficult that would be to be isolated in your room, for sometimes many weeks."

The requirement for visitors to be vaccinated has been dropped by the province, said Seeley, but some homes may continue to request it, she said.

The requirement that visitors be at least 12 years old has also been dropped.

"On one hand ...residents will be happy to see their grandchildren again, but on our side of things, we do have to proceed with caution," said Seeley.

The association is still waiting to hear from the province over whether workers still need to be vaccinated.

"There's been a lot learned from this COVID experience, and I think that some of the measures that were there in the past have been increased and have been enhanced, and they can only help to keep our residents safe," said Seeley.

"Moving forward, whether we're dealing with influenza, or COVID, or whatever, there's been a lot of great lessons learned."

Satisfaction with government bouncing back, poll suggests

Satisfaction with the Higgs government has partially rebounded from a dramatic drop three months ago, a new poll suggests.

A total of 47 per cent of of New Brunswickers are currently satisfied with the government's overall performance, up from 31 per cent in November, according to the poll by Halifax-based Narrative Research.

At that time, the government had imposed a series of circuit breakers to deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The latest results come as the government is set to lift all COVID restrictions on March 14.

In August, when the province was last opened up, 57 per cent of New Brunswickers polled reported being satisfied with the government.

Voting intentions have also shifted, giving the Tories a three-point lead over the Official Opposition, according to the poll.

If an election were held today, 34 per cent of New Brunswickers said they would vote for the Progressive Conservatives, compared to 28 per cent in November, while 31 per cent said they would vote for the Liberals, down from 38 per cent.

Meanwhile, voter support remains stable for the Green Party at 16 per cent (compared to 14 per cent), the NDP at 11 per cent (compared to 13 per cent), and the People's Alliance at five per cent (unchanged).

Premier Blaine Higgs, interim Liberal Leader Roger Melanson, and Green Party Leader David Coon are in tight race for preferred premier, the poll suggests, at 20 per cent, 18 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.

The results are based on an independent telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians between Feb. 9 and Feb. 27.

A total of 545 adult New Brunswickers responded, with overall results accurate to within ± 4.2 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times, Narrative Research said.

Nearly 500 new cases reported at schools in 1 day

Another 494 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported at schools since Thursday's update, the Department of Education's website shows.

That pushes the number of cases involving students and staff to more than 10,400 in just over a month.

There have been 12,889 cases since Sept. 7, spread across 291 of 294 schools.

The latest cases affect 112 schools.

The department will stop collecting and sharing information about COVID-19 cases in schools, effective Monday, with the start of March Break.

When classes resume, parents will no longer have to report their child's positive diagnosis to their school, said department spokesperson Flavio Nienow.

"We've determined that the department and school districts are no longer in a position to continue collecting this information or share it publicly on the Healthy and Safe Schools website," he said Thursday.

There are about 99,000 students and 27,000 school staff across the province.

Province stops checking businesses for compliance

The Department of Public Safety has stopped checking businesses for compliance to COVID-19 rules.

The enforcement page of the COVID-19 dashboard hasn't been updated since Feb. 25.

"With the move to Level 1 [of the COVID-19 winter plan], enforcement strategies have been adjusted in order to focus on priority initiatives," said department spokesperson Geoffrey Downey.

The department is only doing inspections related to complaints, he said.

"Our priorities are responding to COVID complaints, assisting police in addressing demonstrations, and conservation and highway safety mandates."

The province moved to Level 1 on Feb. 18 at 11:59 p.m. At that time, businesses that were required to reduce their capacity to 50 per cent under Level 2, including entertainment centres, gyms and restaurants, returned to full capacity but had to continue to require proof of full vaccination.

On Feb. 28 at 12:01 a.m., the province dropped the proof of vaccination requirement for businesses. But there are still rules in place.

Retail businesses, for example, must maintain physical distancing of two metres, restaurant patrons must remain seated, and masks are required in public indoor spaces.

Since Feb. 25, the department has received 10 COVID-related complaints, and those are being investigated, said Downey.

He noted the compliance rate of the businesses inspected has "consistently been very high," and is currently reported at over 98 per cent.

On March 14, when the emergency order ends and the province lifts all COVID restrictions, enforcement officers will return to their pre-COVID duties, Downey said.

Improved access to rapid tests

The Horizon Health Network has changed the way it distributes point-of-care rapid test kits in some areas to help improve access.

People in areas previously served by mobile vans once a week can now book an appointment to pick up the test kits at some community health centres Monday through Friday.

A list of pickup locations is available online.

To book an appointment, fill out the government's online form.