N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 2 more deaths, 50% of eligible population now boosted

New Brunswick recorded two more COVID-related deaths Tuesday, and half of eligible New Brunswickers have now received their COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, as the province prepares to lift all COVID restrictions within two weeks.

The number of people in hospital decreased by three, to 86. Three people require intensive care, unchanged, and one of them is on a ventilator, down one.

The latest deaths include a person in their 60s in the Moncton region, Zone 1, and a person in their 80s in the Fredericton region, Zone 3.

Of the 86 people in hospital, 47 are hospitalized for COVID-19 and 42 were admitted for something else when they tested positive for the virus.

Three people in their 20s are the youngest hospitalized. The three people in intensive care include a person in their 30s, a person in their 40s and a person in their 70s.

The seven-day average of COVID-related hospitalizations jumped to 80 from 76. It had been on a steady decline for the past three weeks, when it stood at 161 on Feb. 7, before increasing Monday to 76, from 75 on Friday, when the province last released figures.

The seven-day average of people requiring intensive care, meanwhile, decreased again to four from five.

There are 468 health-care workers isolating because of COVID-19, an increase of 25 since Monday. These include 235 with Horizon Health Network, 146 with Vitalité Health Network, and 87 with Extra-Mural and Ambulance New Brunswick.

The province's hospitals are operating at 90 per cent capacity and intensive care units are at 73 per cent capacity, according to the dashboard.

Public Health confirmed 287 new cases of COVID-19 through lab-based PCR tests, putting the active case count at 3,574.

An additional 673 people self-reported testing positive on rapid tests.

The regional breakdown of PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region, Zone 1

• 66 new cases and 1,277 active cases

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 52 new cases and 736 active cases

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 98 new cases and 816 active cases

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• Eight new cases and 183 active cases

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 11 new cases and 119 active cases

Bathurst region, Zone 6

• 34 new cases and 291 active cases

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 18 new cases and 152 active cases

Of the new PCR cases, 21 involve children aged nine or younger and 15 involve youth aged 10 to 19. There are also 45 people in their 20s, 41 in their 30s, 53 in their 40s, 36 in their 50s, 31 in their 60s, 17 in their 70s, 17 in their 80s, and 11 in their 90s.

A total of 733,395 PCR tests have been conducted to date, including 1,966 on Monday.

As of Tuesday, 50 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, up from 49.9 per cent, 87.1 per cent have received two vaccine doses, up from 87 per cent, and 92.8 per cent have received one dose, unchanged again.

New Brunswick has had 37,769 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with 33,887 recoveries so far and 306 COVID-related deaths.

With the end of the mandatory order, the province is set to lift all COVID restrictions by March 14, including mask mandates, gathering limits and isolation requirements.

Dropping dashboard 'incomprehensible'

Green Party Leader David Coon is calling on the government to reverse its decision to drop the COVID-19 dashboard and provide less frequent updates.

He calls the move "incomprehensible."

"Why government would want to plunge New Brunswickers into the dark on what's happening with COVID when they're about to lift all the Public Health measures is well beyond my understanding," he said.

"We need information more than ever to ensure that we have a sense of, you know, where the cases are, and what's the seriousness of the local outbreaks and hospitalizations, and the dashboard is the key source information for that, and has been since the beginning of the pandemic."

The government announced the decision last week, when it announced its plan to lift all COVID restrictions by March 14.

"As restrictions are removed, the government will transition away from weekday updates on the COVID-19 dashboard. COVID-19 information will instead be shared in the communicable disease section of the Public Health website and reported on a weekly basis," it said in a news release.

"Public Health will continue to provide guidance on how people can lower their risks as restrictions are removed," the release said.

Coon said he has "no confidence" the same level of information will be provided without the dashboard.

"Government is telling New Brunswickers, 'OK, it's up to you now. You've got to take responsibility for protecting each other and yourselves. You know what to do.'"

But he contends people need the information the dashboard provides to be able to take the right steps at the right time to protect themselves, their family members and their neighbours.

"We've been plunged into the dark. It's just like flicking off the switch and leaving the room and saying, 'You're on your own. Hope you can see in the dark.'"

Jean-Claude D'Amours, the Liberal health critic and MLA for Edmundston-Madawaska Centre, agreed. He said the dashboard is still "a major thing."

"The public is still waiting … every day to see how many cases we have, how many people have passed away."

Since the move to Level 1, when the government stopped updating the dashboard on weekends, D'Amours said citizens have contacted him, asking where they can find the information.

"So the government needs to stay transparent with COVID and providing accurate information on a regular basis and not keeping the New Brunswickers in the dark."

D'Amours points out it was just before New Brunswick Day last year when the government "decided to get rid of everything and [decided], you know, COVID doesn't exist anymore, so we can go to our regular life." But then the Omicron wave hit and "we were in big trouble."

Although hospitalizations are decreasing, he notes there are still about 1,000 positive cases reported every day, through PCR tests and self-reported rapid tests.

"That just [shows] that we are still having issues with COVID and we will need to help our citizens making their best [decisions]," said D'Amours.

He calls maintaining the dashboard the "minimum" the government needs to do.

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin acknowledged the dashboard has "played an important role throughout the pandemic," but said it has served its purpose.

Austin believes the COVID information should still be available to those who want it, but argued the province has reached a point where "everybody is affected by COVID, and everybody's going to be exposed."

"I think people just need to realize that it's no different at this point than, say, flu season or a cold season. People have to take their own responsibility, assess their own risk and go about their daily lives based on their evaluation of those risks," he said.

If the situation changes because of another new variant or the severity of the disease, Austin said the government might have to re-evaluate.

But "we have got to learn to live with this disease," he said. "We cannot stay in a constant state of emergency, in a constant state of heightened alert. That doesn't work. It's clear that it doesn't work.

"It causes a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, a lot of isolation and a lot of the problems that we see in society today.

"So we have to turn the page on this, understanding that COVID is still there, that it doesn't go away just because the dashboard goes away."

899 new cases reported at schools

A total of 899 new cases of COVID-19 were reported at New Brunswick schools Tuesday, according to the Department of Education's website.

The self-reported cases, which include students and staff, are spread across 158 schools, the website shows.

This pushes the total number of COVID cases reported at schools since Feb. 1 to 9,460.

A total of 11,938 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at 291 schools since Sept. 7.

Only three schools have had no reported positive cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the school year, according to the Department of Education.

These include:

• White Head Elementary School, a K-6 school on White Head Island, south of Grand Manan Island, in the Anglophone South District, which has only three students, as of 2020-21
• Riverside Consolidated School, a K-5 school in Riverside-Albert, in the Anglophone East District, which has 48 students, according to its website
• Deer Island Community School, a K-8 school in Fairhaven, in the Anglophone South District, which has 54 students, according to its website

White Head Elementary School principal Jeff Keirstead, Riverside Consolidated School principal Wesley Silliker and Deer Island Community School principal Tim Davis did not respond to requests to an interview about the success of their schools in keeping COVID at bay.

Asked whether the Department of Education is looking into their success, or whether they're being used as models in any way, spokesperson Danielle Elliott said the impact of COVID-19 on schools "tends to reflect trends within the larger community.

"It is worth noting that all the above listed schools tend to have a smaller school population and largely serve rural communities," she said in an emailed statement.

Schools are expected to drop most COVID-19 measures, including masks, by March 14, when the province lifts all restrictions.

Education Minister Dominic Cardy has said he trusts the Public Health experts for the decision to remove the masking requirement, but he will continue to wear a mask and encourages students and staff to do so as well.

Dr. Jennifer Russell, the chief medical officer of health, has said that with more than 90 per cent of people vaccinated with at least one dose, the number of cases is no longer a good metric for the severity of the disease. Instead, people should look to hospitalizations.

Since the number of hospitalizations is decreasing, Russell said, removing restrictions is the right move.

Earlier this month, the Department of Education's website indicated four schools had been unaffected by COVID, but an error came to light through a request from CBC.

"In the process of reviewing your request, it came to our attention that some schools on the boundaries of health zones were listed as two different schools. Therefore, some duplicate entries were identified," Elliott had said.

In fact, there were seven schools unaffected at that time, she said. "Data on the Healthy and Safe Schools website will be updated to reflect this accordingly."

The distribution of some of the 899 new cases self-reported to schools since Monday includes:

• Moncton region, Zone 1 — 129
• Saint John region, Zone 2 — 179
• Fredericton region, Zone 3 — 137
• Edmundston region, Zone 4 — 23
• Campbellton region, Zone 5 — 15
• Bathurst region, Zone 6 — 34
• Miramichi region, Zone 7 — Eight

A regional breakdown isn't always immediately available for all self-reported cases, Elliott has said.

There are approximately 99,000 students and 27,000 staff spread across the province's 294 schools.

Simplified cross-border test rules not so simple, says expert

A cross-border consultant says Canadian travellers to the United States may want to continue to opt for PCR tests to re-enter Canada even though rapid antigen tests are now also acceptable.

Antigen tests are typically cheaper than PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and can provide results much faster, usually within minutes.

But Laurie Tannous, an immigration lawyer and a special adviser to the Cross-Border Institute at the University of Windsor, says it's difficult to find U.S. pharmacies and labs offering rapid tests.

Meanwhile, some places, such as grocery store pharmacies, are offering Canadians free drive-thru PCR testing.

"You go through the drive-thru, you get the PCR test, there's no cost and you get the results back within a few hours," he said.

"In the case where somebody can locate a lab like that, you're better off to do the PCR test in that instance than to do the antigen test because you're still going to get the results back quickly, there is no cost, and you can use that test for longer."

As of Monday, fully vaccinated travellers coming into Canada now have more options when it comes to pre-arrival testing. Molecular tests, such as a PCR test, are still accepted within 72 hours of arrival, but Canada now also accepts rapid antigen tests administered by a lab, healthcare provider or telehealth service, within 24 hours of arrival by flight or at a land border.

Tannous says the change is meant to address complaints that PCR tests are costly and complicated to get within 72 hours of crossing the border.

But she says the new rules may not actually make things any simpler. People can't just use a rapid test that they have at home, they still need to go through a pharmacy or lab.

"We still have to book an appointment," she said. "We still have to go find a pharmacy or a lab. We still have to pay the fee and now people are, you know, doing the math and figuring out that there are actually, you know, more beneficial for them to get the PCR test.

"They can use it for 72 hours versus the antigen test. If they were going to do daily crossing back and forth, they would have to go every single day to get that rapid test at a lab or at a pharmacy." The rapid test result is only good for 24 hours, she said.

She's also been hearing from a lot of people who are having trouble getting an appointment for a rapid test, she added.

There is still another option available to people — to show proof that they've had COVID in the past 180 days and recovered.

If people test positive, they're advised to stay in the U.S. and isolate for five days, but if they're Canadian, they can still cross into Canada, as long as they have an isolation plan.

Returning Canadians are still required to pre-register online through ArriveCan, noted Tannous. If they don't, they face a fine of $1,000.