N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 4 COVID-related deaths, hospitalizations reach record-high 165

Four more New Brunswickers with COVID-19 have died and the number of people in hospital with the virus has reached a record-high of 165.

But because of the way the province releases data now, it's unclear whether the people died from COVID or just had COVID when they died — only that their deaths were "COVID-related."

And of those in hospital, only 67 are hospitalized for COVID-19, while the other 98 are hospitalized with COVID, meaning they were admitted for something else when they tested positive for the virus — although the condition they were hospitalized for could have been exacerbated by their previously undiagnosed COVID.

Patients hospitalized with COVID are included in the overall total because they may develop acute or severe symptoms of COVID-19 during their hospital stay, and the increase in resources needed to take care of these patients, such as additional personal protective equipment and dedicated wings, adds "strain to the hospital system which cannot be discounted," said Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane.

No information about whether they tested positive upon admission or following their admission is provided. If they test positive after admission, "it does not necessarily indicate that this infection was acquired within hospital," said Macfarlane.

"Individuals may have been admitted carrying COVID-19 asymptomatically and developed symptoms post-admission, which led to testing."

19 deaths since return to Level 2 Saturday

The latest deaths include two people in their 70s and one in their 80s in the Moncton region, Zone 1, and one person in their 70s in the Saint John region, Zone 2, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.

No other information about them, such as any underlying health conditions or their vaccination status, has been released. 

Their deaths mark 19 since the province returned to the less restrictive Level 2 of the COVID-19 winter plan on the weekend and raise the pandemic death toll to 247.

Three of the hospitalized people are 19 or under, a new category added to the COVID dashboard on Tuesday shows, and 121 are aged 60 or over.

Sixteen people are in intensive care —  two in their 30s, two in their 40s, one in their 50s, three in their 60s, six in their 70s, and two in their 80s.

Five of them are on ventilators, a decrease of two.

The seven-day average of hospitalizations increased to 154, from 150, while the seven-day average of ICU admissions increased to 14, from 13.

Last Thursday, Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, said officials expected hospitalizations to peak at "about 150" in mid-February.

Across the province, 417 health-care workers are off work after testing positive for COVID, including 183 from the Horizon Health Network, 142 from the Vitalité Health Network and 92 from Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick.

Hospital occupancy is listed at 88 per cent, while ICU capacity sits at 77 per cent, according to the dashboard.

There were 381 new cases of COVID-19 reported, based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab tests, putting the total active case count at 4,371.

An additional 521 people self-reported testing positive at home with rapid tests.

The regional breakdown of PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region,  Zone 1

•  181 new cases and 1,640 active cases

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 48 new cases and 1,008 active cases

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 25 new cases and 472 active cases

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• 43 new cases and 400 active cases

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 12 new cases and 204 active cases

Bathurst region, Zone 5

• 45 new cases and 449 active cases

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 27 cases and 198 active cases

A total of 692,601 PCR tests have been conducted to date, including 1,992 on Tuesday.

New Brunswick has had 29,494 cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic with 24,874 recoveries so far.

Large nursing-home outbreaks continue

The head of the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes says fairly large COVID-19 outbreaks are ongoing at more than one of its member facilities.

Villa Providence in Shediac announced this week that 62 residents have tested positive — more than double the number from last week. And more than 40 of its employees are off isolating either because they tested positive or were a close contact of someone with the virus. That's more than half its staff.

Rocmaura Nursing Home in Saint John has been dealing with a similar situation, according to Michael Keating, the association's interim executive director.

But the outbreaks aren't hitting residents as hard as they did earlier in the pandemic, he said.

"More people are getting it, but we're not seeing the same results. Hopefully, that's because of vaccination and people taking proper measures to look after people who have been afflicted. But we've been very lucky this time in terms of the seriousness of the experience."

The big challenges, said Keating, are the staffing shortages that come with the outbreaks.

The homes are coping because dedicated employees are working extra hours, he said.

They've also received outside help from some licensed practical nurse students.

"After a period of time, they can perform what we refer to as 'resident care duties,' or what a registered attendant would be able to do," Keating said. "And if we did not have them coming out to help us, that would have really made things difficult."

Vaccine demand down to 'a trickle,' says head of pharmacists' group

The demand for COVID-19 vaccinations in the province has slowed down significantly, according to the head of the New Brunswick Pharmacists' Association.

Jake Reid says there's lots of capacity in the system, but filling all the available appointments in vaccination clinics right now is a challenge. 

Only about 3,000 people got their shots on Monday, the province's dashboard shows.

"That's a very, very low number," said Reid.

He estimates the province can accommodate more than 10,000 shots a day between the Horizon and Vitalité health network clinics and the pharmacy clinics.

"So we're really seeing a bit of a trickle right now. Very few first doses and second doses, you know, a few hundred sort of. But booster doses, where we really expected to see more people, there's lots of people that should be still getting their booster doses, and the demand is slow."

Department of Health officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As of Wednesday, 44.7 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have had their booster shot, up from 44.3 per cent, 84.7 per cent have received two doses of a vaccine, up from 84.5 per cent, and 92.2 per cent have received one dose, up from 92.1 per cent, according to the dashboard.

Reid says it's "surprising" that there's still "a majority" of people who could receive their booster dose, who haven't.

"When we were getting our first doses, the demand was incredible. And then we saw when we went to second doses that that started to peter off a little bit. We didn't see the same escalation of demand for second dose. And we still don't," he said, noting there's an eight per cent gap between people who received their first dose and second dose.

"So that really fell off and then booster, it fell off even more."

The demand for pediatric doses is also much lower than expected, said Reid.

Public Health officials were hopeful before Christmas that first doses would be administered to 50 per cent of children aged five to 11 by the end of 2021. That threshold was reached just a couple weeks ago. As of Wednesday, the rate stands at 56.8 per cent.

A new online booking system for pharmacies might encourage more people to book appointments, he said. Many pharmacies have signed onto a central system.