Weekly COVID-19 deaths more than double in New Brunswick to 9

The number of weekly deaths from COVID-19 in New Brunswick has more than doubled in the past week, figures released Tuesday show.

Nine New Brunswickers died from the virus between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, up from four the previous week, according to Public Health's COVIDWatch report.

This bucks the national and international trend, the report indicates. COVID deaths in Canada have decreased "over the last few weeks," and global COVID deaths also "continue to decrease since the previous week."

The number of people newly admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19 has remained stable at 29, the province says, while the number of people currently hospitalized has decreased by two to 33, including one in intensive care, down by one.

Meanwhile, the two regional health authorities say there are 136 people with COVID-19 hospitalized, as of Saturday, down from 139, including eight patients who require intensive care, down from 11.

Unlike the province, which only reports people admitted to hospital because of COVID-19, Horizon and Vitalité include in their weekly reports people initially admitted for another reason who later test positive for the virus.

Fewer new cases of COVID have been reported in the past week —  1,186, compared to 1,362.

Immune-evasive strains could drive new waves

Dr. Yves Léger, the province's acting chief medical officer of health, is on vacation and unavailable for an interview, Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie said.

Public Health has repeatedly advised an increase in COVID activity is anticipated later this fall and winter, along with increased flu activity.

New Omicron subvariants that have been shown to better evade immunity and potentially drive new COVID waves are gaining ground across Canada and around the world, with more than 300 of them being tracked by the World Health Organization.​​

One of these — BA.2.75.2 — was detected in New Brunswick in September, Bowie confirmed last week.

CBC asked the Department of Health if any others have been detected since then, but Bowie simply reiterated that all circulating lineages are current Omicron, and the breakdown of the "five main sublineages" — BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, and BA.5 — are reported in COVIDWatch.

BA.2.75.2 evolved from the previous BA.2 strain.

Of the most recent random samples sent for sequencing, 88 per cent of them were the highly transmissible BA.5, while the other 12 per cent were BA.4, the report shows.

Pfizer's new Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine booster is now available to New Brunswickers aged 12 and older, provided five months have passed since their last dose or infection, the province announced last Friday.

The updated version of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine targets the original coronavirus as well as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

As of Tuesday, 396 Pfizer bivalent doses have been administered, said Bowie.

While some people have complained on social media about having difficulty accessing it, either because it's not available anywhere near them, or not anytime soon, there are currently 223 Pfizer bivalent clinics across all health zones listed in the province's online scheduler, offering appointments between Tuesday and Nov. 30, he said.

The scheduler gets updated daily if new clinics are added.

There are also 152 pharmacies that don't use the provincial scheduler and should have Pfizer bivalent appointments available through their own website or by calling them directly, he added.

Moderna's Spikevax bivalent, which targets the original virus and the Omicron variant BA.1, has been available as a booster to New Brunswickers 18 and older since Oct. 11.

A total of 22,859 doses have been administered to date.

Breakdown of deaths, hospitalizations, cases

The latest deaths include three people in their 70s, one in their 80s, and five 90 or older, the COVIDWatch report shows. The province's pandemic death toll now stands at 585.

Among the people admitted to hospital are two youths between 10 and 19 and a person in their 20s.

There are also two people in their 50s, five in their 60s, eight in their 70s, eight in their 80s, and three 90s or older.

Of the new cases of COVID reported, 692 were confirmed through a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab test (down from 747), and the other 494 were people who reported testing positive on a rapid test, down from 615.

There are now 1,067 active cases of COVID across the province, based on PCR-confirmed cases alone.

Lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic have now surpassed 80,000, with 78,474 of those considered resolved.

The Department of Health says 3,644 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered over the past week, including 3,057 second boosters.

A total of 23.4 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have now received their second booster, up from 22.9 per cent a week ago, and 53.9 per cent have received their first booster, up from 53.8 per cent.

The third and fourth booster rates are not provided in the COVIDWatch report. CBC has requested the figures from the Department of Health and is awaiting a response.

The first-and second-dose rates remain unchanged at 90.6 and 85.5 per cent, respectively.

Horizon, Vitalité breakdown

Horizon had 78 active COVID-19 patients in hospital, as of Saturday, down from 97, according to its weekly COVID dashboard. Six are in intensive care, down from nine.

The Fredericton region, Zone 3, has the largest share, at 37. The distribution of the other patients includes:

• Zone 1, Moncton region — six.
• Zone 2, Saint John region — 30.
• Zone 7, Miramichi region  — five.

Vitalité has 58 hospitalized COVID patients, up from 42, including two in intensive care, unchanged, its dashboard shows.

Campbellton Regional Hospital has more than half of the patients, at 25. There are 14 patients at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, 11 at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, including one in intensive care, and eight at Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, including one in intensive care.

Sick hospital employees, outbreaks

The number of health-care workers off the job because of COVID has dropped provincewide to 140 from 181.

Horizon has 57 employees who have tested positive, down from 119. Vitalité, however, has seen a nearly 34 per cent increase, with 83 employees now infected, up from 62.

The number of COVID outbreak units at Horizon hospitals has climbed to 13 from eight the previous week. These include two in the Moncton region, three in the Saint John region and three in the Fredericton region. No other details are provided.

Vitalité has six units with COVID outbreaks, down from seven, including a new one at the Edmundston Regional Hospital's medicine unit, along with the existing one on its surgical unit 2.

Campbellton Regional Hospital also has two outbreak units: the geriatric unit and veterans' unit, while the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre and Chaleur Regional Hospital each have one: the general surgical unit (4A) and general medical unit (4 East), respectively.