COVID-19 dashboard replacement still shrouded in secrecy
New weekly COVID Watch web page, expected to launch Tuesday, will contain 'pertinent' data, Shephard says
New Brunswick is expected to launch its new COVID-19 web page Tuesday, but exactly what information it will include remains unclear.
The weekly page, part of Public Health's communicable diseases website, replaces the COVID-19 dashboard, which has been reduced to weekly updates in recent weeks.
The Department of Health did not respond yet again Monday to a request for comment about whether all of the same data will still be available.
But Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told reporters last week the new page, called COVID Watch, will provide "some pertinent information."
"Number of hospitalizations are going to stay. Number of deaths. Number of cases. Number of vaccines. I know there's a couple of others," she said, as plans for the page were still being finalized.
The current dashboard contains 59 points of information, Shephard said. "So we're going to condense it to what we think is the most relevant."
Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, told CBC last month the province will "diminish the reporting … to more of a surveillance dashboard … just like the flu, et cetera."
Weekly influenza surveillance reports include information about:
- Positive influenza cases confirmed by lab tests, broken down by health region
- Influenza-associated hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths
- Laboratory-confirmed outbreaks in nursing homes and "other settings," broken down by health region
- ILI outbreaks in schools broken down by health region, which is based on the schools reporting an absenteeism rate of more than 10 per cent likely due to ILI
- The consultation rate for influenza-like illness (ILI)
The information is presented through a summary, graphs, tables and a map broken down into health zones.
There is no breakdown by ages, no vaccination data, and no information about hospital occupancy or the number of health-care workers off sick.
The report also provides a snapshot of influenza activity across Canada and globally.
The most recent weekly influenza report available is for nearly a month ago — March 6-12.
Less data to gauge risk
Critics have argued the government is asking New Brunswickers to manage their own risks for COVID-19 now that all Public Health measures have been lifted, but at the same time, it's providing less data about the virus to help them gauge that risk.
"If we get public feedback that we need to add something [to COVID Watch], that's certainly, you know, we'll consider that," Shephard said. "But we are not, we're not, you know, giving way to hiding information."
Staff will continue to track the data, she noted. But they "won't be under strict regime to have those numbers done by a certain hour of a certain day."
Public Health needs the information, and so does the government for putting forward policies, stressed Shephard.
"So the information will be there. If somebody wants it, I'm sure we'll be able to provide it."
Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane has said part of transitioning to living with COVID-19 means "the reallocation of our time and resources to other Public Health priority areas."
He did not respond to a request to explain why maintaining the new weekly page will takes less time or resources or to elaborate on the other "priority areas."
Horizon has 125 COVID patients
As of the last update on March 29, New Brunswick reported 13 COVID-related deaths over the previous seven days and 142 people hospitalized across the province, including eight in intensive care.
On Monday, the Horizon Health Network alone reports having 125 COVID hospital patients, 13 of whom require intensive care.
The Vitalité Health Network did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but had 61 hospitalized COVID patients as of last Friday, which would push the provincial total to 186.
At the end of February, there were 89 people hospitalized provincewide.
Occupancy at Horizon's Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton stands at 97 per cent with 45 COVID patients, including one in ICU, while the Saint John Regional Hospital and Moncton Hospitals are both listed at 95 per cent capacity, with 33 COVID patients (seven in ICU) and 30 COVID patients (three in ICU), respectively.
The Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville is at 85 per cent capacity, with four COVID patients (none in ICU), and the Miramichi Regional Hospital is at 72 per cent, with 13 COVID patients (two in ICU).
Vitalité facilities were at 103 per cent capacity, as of April 1.
On March 29, hospital occupancy provincewide was 90 per cent, according to the dashboard, and ICU bed occupancy was at 73 per cent.
Horizon has fewer health-care workers off the job after testing positive for COVID-19 — 228, down from 274 last week.
The Saint John region, Zone 2, has the largest share, at 81, followed by the Moncton region, Zone 1, at 69, the Fredericton region, Zone 3, at 65, and the Miramichi region, Zone 7, at 13.
But Vitalité reported a 41 per cent jump in sick workers in eight days, with 352 workers off because of COVID-19 as of March 30.
Both regional health networks have said they will remain at the red alert level with restrictions, such as mandatory masking and a ban on general visitors, until further notice.
Vitalité has cited rising cases and Horizon has pointed to the anticipated arrival of a sixth wave of COVID-19.