N.B. records 6 more COVID-19 deaths, increase in new cases after 5-week decline
Hospitalizations also up, according to weekly COVIDWatch report, sick health-care workers jumps nearly 50%
COVID-19 has killed six more New Brunswickers and the number of new lab-confirmed cases of the virus has increased, following a five-week decline, weekly figures released by the province Tuesday show.
Hospital admissions and active hospitalizations because of COVID also increased between Nov. 20 and Nov. 26, compared to the previous week, and include children and youths, but the number of people who require intensive care has decreased, according to the COVIDWatch report.
The number of health-care workers off the job because of COVID-19 has jumped nearly 50 per cent, to 148, the regional health authorities report.
Meanwhile, Horizon and Vitalité, which count people admitted to hospital because of COVID-19, as well as those initially admitted for another reason who later test positive for the virus, show a decrease in hospitalizations and slight increase in ICU admissions.
They say they have 80 people hospitalized either for or with COVID as of Saturday, down from 95 the previous week. Ten people are in intensive care, up from nine.
"At the national level, there are continued decreases or stabilization of cases and outbreak incidence," the province's report says.
There has also been a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths at the national level, it says.
Dr. Yves Léger, the acting chief medical officer of health, was unavailable again Tuesday for an interview, said Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie.
Breakdown of deaths, cases, hospitalizations
The latest deaths include a person in their 70s and five people in their 80s. The province's pandemic death toll has now reached 615.
A total of 596 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed through a PCR [polymerase chain reaction] lab test, up from 436 — a nearly 37 per cent increase.
There are 790 active cases of COVID across the province, based on PCR-confirmed cases alone, up from 636.
Another 371 New Brunswickers also self-reported testing positive on a rapid test, up from 303.
Of the most recent random samples of positive test results sent for genetic sequencing, 92 per cent were the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.5, six per cent were the Omicron subvariant BA.4, and two per cent were the Omicron subvariant BA.2. The Department of Health does not provide a further breakdown of sublineages, such as the immune-evasive BQ.1, BQ.1.1 and BA.2.75.2.
Twenty-seven people were newly admitted to hospital for COVID, compared to 24 last week.
Among the new admissions are two children under 10 and a youth aged 10 to 19.
The other admissions include two people in their 20s, one in their 40s, one in their 50s, four in their 60s, six in their 70s, seven in their 80s, and three 90 or older.
The number of people currently hospitalized because of COVID has also increased to 38, from 32 a week ago.
COVID-19 vaccination rates for first and second doses remain unchanged from last week, at 90.7 per cent and 85.6 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers, respectively.
The third dose, or first booster, rate increased slightly to 54.3 per cent from 54.2 per cent, and the fourth dose, or second booster rate, has increased to 26.9 per cent from 26.3 per cent after 3,430 more doses were administered.
New Brunswick has had 82,819 confirmed cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic and 81,414 are considered resolved so far.
Horizon and Vitalité data
Horizon has 64 active COVID-19 patients in hospital, down from 72 , according to its weekly COVID dashboard. Eight of them require intensive care, up from five.
The Saint John region, Zone 2, has the largest share, at 26, followed by 14 in the Moncton region, Zone 1, 13 in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, and 11 in the Miramichi region, Zone 7.
Vitalité has 16 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, down from 23, its dashboard shows. One is in intensive care, down from four.
The Edmundston Regional Hospital has six patients, the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont hospital in Moncton has four patients, including one in intensive care, the Campbellton Regional Hospital has five patients, and the Tracadie Hospital has one patient.
Horizon has 92 health-care workers off after testing positive for COVID-19, up from 68 last week and 48 the week before.
Vitalité has 56 sick health-care employees, up from 31.
There are nine COVID-19 outbreak units at Horizon hospitals, down from 14. These include two in the Moncton region, two in the Saint John region, three in the Fredericton region and two in the Miramichi region. No other details are provided.
Vitalité has two outbreak units, including a new one at the Restigouche Hospital Centre's forensic psychiatry unit, rehabilitation, and one at the Edmundston Regional Hospital on the extended care unit.