N.B. COVID-19 numbers jump, 16 new deaths reported in weekly update

New Brunswick has recorded 16 new COVID-related deathsand a rise in hospitalizations over seven days, numbers released on the province's COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday show.

Asked about the spike in numbers, the province's chief medical officer of health said it's part of the "bump" she and her team expected when they made the recommendation to end all restrictions as of March 14.

"We had lifted the mandatory order right around the same time that March break was happening," Dr. Jennifer Russell told CBC News onTuesday morning.

"And so we knew that between that combination of people travelling, the mandatory order being lifted, our modelling did show that we would see a bump in cases and hospitalizations."

The16 new deaths and the 30 new hospital admissions, for a current total of 129 hospitalizations,occurred in the days between March 13 and 19.

The numbers wereposted to the provincial COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday morning, in keeping with the shift to providingonce-weeklyCOVID-19 updates as part of the lifting of all restrictions.

The new deaths bring the province's total to 336 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Province marks 16 deaths in one week, 30 more hospitalizations

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

Numbers come one week after New Brunswick lifted all COVID-19 measures, including masking indoors and all gathering restrictions.

Bump in hospitalizations contradicts modelling

The number of people currently in hospital is the highest it's been since the second week of February, when the province was transitioning from Level 2 to Level 1 of its COVID-19 winter plan.

It's also higher than what the province said it was expecting to see by mid-March.

According to a graphthe Department of Health provided in February and continues to share as its most up-to-date modelling, hospitalizations were expected to be down to about 50 by now.

On Tuesday, Russell seemed to have disregarded thatgraph.

"We knew that the case numbers [in hospitals] were going to be around 100. So ... we did expect a bump," she said.

"You can't make all those changes and not expect there to be some effect on the population in terms of case numbers and hospitalizations.

"But the the thing that we're keeping in mind and we want the public to keep in mind is that, number one, in terms of vulnerable settings like hospitals, they are still in the red phase in terms of protecting patients and staff ... And long term care facilitiesalso still have measures in place."

16 people in intensive care

Of the 129 peoplein hospital with COVID-19, 58 tested positive after being admitted for another reason, while 71 were admitted because of COVID-19.

There are16 people in intensive care, up by three since last week's update. Four of those patients were admitted for something other than COVID-19, while 12 were admitted because of COVID-19, according to the dashboard.

A total of five people are on ventilator, which is down from seven the week before.

Overall hospital capacity is at 91 per cent, while the occupancy rate of intensive care units stands at 62 per cent.

A total of 490 health-care workers are isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, with 241 of those being staff with Horizon Health Network, 186 withVitalitHealth Network and 63 with either Extra-Mural or Ambulance New Brunswick.

Breakdown of new deaths

The 16 COVID-related deaths announced Tuesday occurred in six of the province's seven zones, including fiveinZone 1, theMoncton region, four were in Zone 2, Saint John region, one in Zone 3, Fredericton region, one in Zone 5, Campbellton region, four in Zone 6, Bathurst region and one in Zone 7, Miramichi region.

Moncton region, Zone 1

• A person in their 60s, two people in their 70s, and two people in their 80s

Saint John region, Zone 2

• Two people in their 60s and two in their 70s

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• A person in their 80s

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• A person in their 80s

Bathurst region, Zone 6

• A person each in their 40s, 70s, 80s, and above 90

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• A person in their 40s

5,922 new cases

There were 2,781 new cases recorded through PCR testing, with 3,141 new cases recorded by people using at-home test kits from March 13 to 19.

The regional breakdown of the PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region, Zone 1

• 898 new cases and 1,474 active

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 599 new cases and 962 active

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 502 new cases and 820active cases

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• 165 new cases and 241active cases

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 129 new cases and 185active cases

Bathurst region, Zone 6

• 311 new cases and 486active cases

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 177 new cases and 273active cases

Nursing homes trying to balance protections andfreedoms

Nursing homes in the province have set up a working group with the Department of Social Development to determine how best to protect residents, while at the same time letting them see loved ones, saidMichael Keating, interim executive director of the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes.

But with COVID-19 still spreading, achievingthat balance continues to be a challenge, he said.

"If you let somebody in who's unvaccinated and bring[s] in COVID, it doesn't just affect the person they're visiting," said Keating, speaking on Information Morning Saint John.

"Because if we look at this latest Omicron [wave], it just flies through the nursing home in terms of infections. So we've got to find a way that the people can still visit."

Though restrictions on the general public have been lifted, long-term care homes continue to follow Public Health guidance to protect those who are vulnerable, including the wearing of masks and isolating those who are ill.

The Department of Health has said visitors are required to wear a mask, however, they may remove their mask when in a resident's room at the resident's discretion.

Throughout the pandemic, the province has also financially assisted long-term care homes that were facing outbreaks.

That assistance, however, is beginning to be scaled back, and the province has told long-term care homes that by April 30 it will reassess whether any supports will remain in place.

Keating said his association continues to advocate for some supports to continue, as managing outbreaks has financial impacts on nursing homes.

Keating said no nursing homes have yet been impacted by the removal of supports.