Weekly COVID-19 deaths jump to 15, hospitalizations decrease

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 15 more New Brunswickers in the past week and the province reports hospitalizations because of the virus dropped by six, to 81, including 10 people in intensive care.

According to the two health authorities, there are 123 people with COVID-19 being treated in hospital, 13 of whom require intensive care. That's down from 168 and 19 respectively last Tuesday.

The province'sweekly COVIDWatchreportincludesonly people hospitalized for COVID, whereas Horizon andVitalitalso includepeople who were initially admitted to hospital for another reason and later tested positive for the virus.

The new deaths represent a significant jump from last week, when six deaths were reported.

The latest deaths include one person in their 60s, four in their 70s, four in their 80s, and six in their 90s,a comparison of this week's report to last week's reveals.

Four of them lived in the Moncton region, Zone 1, three in the Saint John region, Zone 2, three in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, four in the Edmundston region, Zone 4, and one in the Bathurstregion, Zone 6.

Their deathsraise the pandemic death toll to 399. More than 20 per cent of those 82 have occurred in the sevenweeks since the province lifted all COVID-19 restrictions.

"Individuals that are unprotected by vaccine continue to have the highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 and death," the province's website states.

The highest portion of hospitalizations for COVID-19is among individuals aged 60 to 79, it says.

A child under 10 and another aged 10 to 19 are among those admitted to hospital for COVID-19 during the reporting period of April 24 to April 30, the website shows.

New hospital admissions for COVID, including ICU admissions,decreased this week to64, compared to 74 last week.

The others include two peoplein their 20s, two in their 30s, two in their 40s, four in their 50s, six in their 60s, 21in their 70s, 14 in their 80s, and 11 in their 90s.

Among the seven people admitted to intensive care, two arein their 40s, one intheir 60s, threein their 70s, and onein their 80s.

Of the 127 COVID-related hospitalizations reported by the regional health authorities, Horizonhas 86 of them, as of Saturday, down from106 in last week's report,its dashboardshows. Nine of those patients are inintensive care, down from15.

The regional breakdown of Horizon's active hospitalizations, as of Saturday include:

• Moncton region, Zone 1 28
• Saint John region, Zone 2 31
• Fredericton region, Zone 3 20
• Miramichi region, Zone 7 Seven

Vitalithas 37 COVID-19 patients hospitalized,four of them in intensive care.

19 active outbreaks

There are active COVID-19 outbreaks on 19 hospital units across the province, down from 28 last week, according to the regional health authorities.

Horizon has 11 outbreak units.Six are in the Moncton region, Zone 1, four are in the Saint John region, Zone 2, and one is in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, according to a graph on the dashboard, but the hospitals and units are not identified.

Vitalit has the other eight. They include:

• Moncton region, Zone 1 Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre,on thegeriatric unit (3E) andVeterans' Health Centre, Unit 300
• Campbellton region, Zone 5Campbellton Regional Hospital, on the geriatric unit, transitional care unit and the veterans' unit
• Bathurst region, Zone 6Enfant-Jsus RHSJHospital, on the medical unit, andTracadie Hospital, on the medical unit and 2nd north unit

No Horizon hospitals are listed as being overcapacity, but fiveVitalit hospitals have bed occupancy rates of over 100 per cent. Only two of these have COVID-19 patients.

The Tracadie Hospital is at 105 per cent capacity with three COVID patients, while the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre is at 104 per cent capacity with 11 COVID patients.

At least252health-care workers are off the job, isolating because of COVID, down from 367 reported last Tuesday.

Horizon has 106 staff who have tested positive, as of Saturday, down from142.

Vitalithas 105 infected health-care workers off, plus another 41 who have been "removed from work" because of a contact with a positive case, putting its total number of absent staff at 146, down from 225.

Horizon does not report how many staff are isolating as a precaution after coming into contact with a positive case.

Drop in new cases and PCR tests

The number of new cases of COVID-19 dropped to2,534in Tuesday's report, compared to 3,964 last week and5,645 the previous week.

But that's based in part on PCR(polymerase chain reaction)tests, and about 2,000 fewer tests were performed April 24-30, compared to April 17-23, the COVIDWatch report shows.

There were1,392 cases confirmed through PCR tests, putting the total number ofPCR-confirmed active cases across the province at 2,281, down from3,134.

The number of PCR tests performed provincewide dropped to 6,612 from 8,660. The Moncton region, Zone 1, saw the biggest dip, to 3,168 from 4,668.

Another 1,142 people also self-reported testing positive on rapid tests.

Of the 1,392 new PCRcases, 74.5 per centwere "protected," which Public Health defines asboosted or fully vaccinated less than six months.

The other 25.5 per centwere "unprotected," which Public Health defines asfully vaccinated more than six months, partially vaccinated, orunvaccinated.

The vaccination status of the new deaths and hospitalizationsis not provided, but of the 251 deaths reported since Dec. 5, 53.4 per cent were protected.

Of the hospitalizations reported during the same period, 48.2 per cent were protected, and among ICU admissions alone, 35.1 per cent were protected.

A total of 52per cent of eligible New Brunswickersare now boostedafter 885 more people received their COVID-19 booster shot, up from 51.9per cent a week ago, 87.9per cent have received two doses, up from 87.8per cent (233 more people), and 93.1 per cent have received their first dose, unchanged again (146 more people).

New Brunswick has had 62,148 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic with 59,468 recoveries so far, now described as "resolved" cases.

Atlantic COVID roundup

P.E.I. reportedone new COVID-related deathin its weekly report Tuesday, a person aged 40 to 59.

Six people on the Island are in hospitaldue to COVID-19, while seven others were admitted for other reasons and were COVID-positive on or after admission.

P.E.I. has confirmed 1,163 new cases of COVIDsince the lastupdate April 26.

On Monday, Newfoundland and Labrador reported another death due to COVID-19,a person in their 80s.

Hospitalizations jumpedto 24from 16 on Friday. Three people are in critical care.

The Health Department also reported197 new cases since Friday, butis no longer releasing data on how many people are being tested and is restricting PCR testing.

Nova Scotia, in its last weekly update April 26, reported 24 COVID-related deaths.

There were 55 people in hospital due to COVID-19, including 10 in intensive care.

A total of 5,436 new cases were confirmed through PCR tests.