Weekly COVID-19 deaths more than double in New Brunswick to 9

The number of weekly deaths from COVID-19 in New Brunswick has more than doubledin the past week, figures released Tuesday show.

Nine New Brunswickers died from the virus between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, up from four the previous week,according to Public Health'sCOVIDWatch report.

This bucks the national and international trend, the report indicates. COVID deaths in Canada have decreased "over the last few weeks,"andglobal COVID deaths also "continue to decrease since the previous week."

The number of people newly admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19 has remained stable at 29, the province says, while thenumber of people currently hospitalized hasdecreased by two to 33, including one in intensive care, down by one.

Meanwhile, the two regional health authoritiessay there are 136 people with COVID-19 hospitalized, as of Saturday, down from 139, includingeightpatients who require intensive care, down from 11.

Unlike the province, which only reports people admitted to hospital because of COVID-19, Horizon and Vitalitinclude in their weekly reports peopleinitially admitted for another reason wholater test positive for the virus.

Fewer new cases of COVID have been reported in the past week 1,186, compared to 1,362.

Immune-evasive strains could drive new waves

Dr. Yves Lger, the province'sacting chief medical officer of health, is on vacation and unavailable for an interview, Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie said.

Public Health has repeatedly advisedan increase in COVID activity is anticipated later this fall and winter, along withincreased flu activity.

New Omicron subvariantsthat have been shown to better evade immunity and potentially drive new COVID waves are gaining ground across Canada and around the world,with more than 300 of them beingtracked by the World Health Organization.

One of theseBA.2.75.2was detected in New Brunswick in September, Bowie confirmed last week.

CBCasked the Department of Health if any others have been detected since then, butBowie simply reiterated thatall circulating lineages are current Omicron,and the breakdown of the "five main sublineages" BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, and BA.5 are reported in COVIDWatch.

BA.2.75.2 evolved from the previous BA.2 strain.

Of the most recent random samples sent for sequencing, 88per cent of them were the highly transmissible BA.5, while the other 12 per cent were BA.4, the report shows.

Pfizer's new Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine booster is now available to New Brunswickers aged 12 and older, providedfive months have passed since their last dose or infection, the province announced last Friday.

The updated version of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccinetargets the original coronavirus as well as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

As of Tuesday,396 Pfizer bivalent doses have beenadministered, said Bowie.

While some people have complained on social media about havingdifficulty accessing it,eitherbecause it's not available anywhere near them, or not anytime soon, there arecurrently 223 Pfizer bivalent clinics across all health zones listed in the province's online scheduler, offeringappointments between Tuesday and Nov. 30, he said.

The scheduler gets updated daily if new clinics are added.

There are also152 pharmacies that don't use the provincial scheduler and should have Pfizer bivalent appointments available through their own website or by calling them directly, he added.

Moderna'sSpikevax bivalent, whichtargets the original virus and the Omicron variant BA.1,has been available as a booster toNew Brunswickers 18 and older since Oct. 11.

A total of22,859 doses have been administered to date.

Breakdown of deaths, hospitalizations, cases

The latest deaths include three people in their 70s, one in their 80s, and five 90 or older, theCOVIDWatch report shows. The province's pandemic death toll now stands at 585.

Among the people admitted tohospitalare two youths between 10 and 19 and a person in their 20s.

There are also two people in their 50s, five in their 60s, eight in their 70s, eight in their 80s, and three 90s or older.

Of the new cases of COVID reported,692were confirmed through aPCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab test (downfrom 747), and the other 494 were people who reported testing positive on a rapid test, down from 615.

There are now 1,067 active cases of COVID across the province, based on PCR-confirmed cases alone.

Lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic havenow surpassed 80,000, with 78,474 of those considered resolved.

The Department of Health says 3,644 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered over the past week, including 3,057second boosters.

A total of 23.4 per cent of eligible NewBrunswickershave now received their secondbooster, up from 22.9 per cent a week ago, and 53.9per cent have received their first booster, up from53.8 per cent.

The third and fourth booster rates are not provided in the COVIDWatch report. CBC has requested the figures from the Department of Health and is awaiting a response.

The first-and second-dose rates remainunchanged at 90.6 and 85.5 per cent, respectively.

Horizon,Vitalit breakdown

Horizonhad 78active COVID-19 patients in hospital, as of Saturday, down from97,according to itsweekly COVID dashboard. Six are inintensive care, down from nine.

The Fredericton region, Zone 3, has the largest share, at 37. The distribution of the other patients includes:

• Zone 1, Moncton region six.
• Zone 2, Saint Johnregion 30.
• Zone 7, Miramichi region five.

Vitalit has 58 hospitalized COVID patients, up from 42, including two in intensive care, unchanged,its dashboard shows.

Campbellton Regional Hospital has more than half of the patients, at 25. There are 14 patients at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, 11at theDr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, including one in intensive care, and eight atChaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, including one in intensive care.

Sick hospital employees, outbreaks

The number of health-care workers off the job because of COVID has dropped provincewide to 140 from 181.

Horizon has 57 employees who have tested positive, down from119. Vitalit, however,has seen a nearly 34 per cent increase, with 83 employees now infected, up from 62.

The number of COVID outbreak units at Horizon hospitals has climbed to 13 from eight the previous week.These includetwoin the Moncton region, threein the Saint John region and three in the Fredericton region. No other details are provided.

Vitalithas six units with COVID outbreaks, down from seven, including a new one at theEdmundston Regional Hospital's medicine unit, along with the existing one on itssurgical unit 2.

Campbellton Regional Hospital also has two outbreak units: the geriatric unit and veterans' unit, while theDr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre andChaleur Regional Hospital each have one:the general surgical unit (4A) andgeneral medical unit (4 East), respectively.