Delta variant still in New Brunswick, says Edmundston physician

The COVID-19 Delta variant is still present in at least one corner of New Brunswick.

Three patients in the intensive-care unit of the Edmundston Regional Hospital were sick with the Delta variant as of Wednesday afternoon.

Delta is more severe but not as transmissible as the now-dominant Omicron variant.

The hospital was waiting for test results to see if any other patients admitted this week also have Delta, said Dr. John Tobin, the head of the family medicine department in Zone 4 for the Vitalité Health Network.

"We get the feeling that there is still a bit of Delta variant left in the community because we still have a few admissions where the patients present symptoms that look like it's the Delta variant," he said.

"Literally we can point out the patients that probably have Omicron because their symptoms are so weak. Most of them don't have any COVID symptoms."

Tobin said so far, all Omicron patients in Edmundston's hospital have been admitted for other reasons and their positive COVID status showed up when they were screened.

10 COVID patients in intensive care

The province reported only 10 patients in ICUs around the province Wednesday, making the three Edmundston Delta patients a large share of the total.

The three patients are presumed to have Delta because their tests came back negative for Omicron and their more severe symptoms match the profile of Delta.

All three have been in the ICU for a couple of weeks and are starting to improve, Tobin said.

On Jan. 4, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said the new Omicron variant represented 100 per cent of COVID-19 cases in some health zones, but as few as 86 per cent in others.

Delta patients tend to be more sick and need more specialized care, but vaccines protect better against the variant.

With Omicron, vaccines don't protect as well against infection, but they do reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.

And Omicron symptoms tend to be less severe, not ending up in the ICU and not dying of COVID, Tobin said.

Hospitalization rates

Earlier this week, provincial epidemiologist Mathieu Chalifoux said 60 out of every 1,000 Delta cases require hospitalization, compared to 10 out of every 1,000 Omicron cases.

Last Friday, Vitalité declared an outbreak at the Edmundston hospital, saying there were three patients with COVID-19 in the ICU and 11 others admitted to the hospital. There were also exposures in three nursing units.

Tobin said if there was a way to choose between more severe, less contagious Delta and less severe, more contagious Omicron, it would be a tough call.

"Our wish would be to not have COVID patients," Tobin said. "If we do find COVID patients that are hospitalized, it might as well be Omicron so we can treat the patient for their illness and not for COVID."

Outside the hospital, Tobin is guessing that "there's a lot more Omicron than Delta. I would be guessing that Delta's on its way out, running very fast out of the community."

While Omicron is less severe generally, officials are predicting the sheer number of cases expected in the coming weeks will still put enormous strain on hospitals because some share of those cases will need hospital care.