COVID-19 claimed the lives of 15 other New Brunswick residents last week, and the province said hospitalizations due to the virus had dropped by six to 81, including 10 people in intensive care.
According to the two health authorities, 123 people with COVID-19 are being treated in hospital, 13 of whom need intensive care. That’s less than 168 and 19 last Tuesday, respectively.
The provincial COVIDWatch report only includes people hospitalized for COVID, while Horizon and Vitalité also include people 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.
Recent deaths include one in the 1960s, four in the 1970s, four in the 1980s and six in the 1990s, comparing this week’s report to last week’s revelations.
Four of them lived in the Moncton area, area 1, three in the St. John area, area 2, three in the Fredericton area, area 3, four in the Edmundston area, area 4, and one in the Bathurst area, area 6.
Their deaths have increased the number of deaths from the pandemic to 399. More than 20 percent of them – 82 – have occurred in the seven weeks since the province lifted all restrictions on COVID-19.
“People who are not protected by the vaccine continue to have the highest rates of hospitalization for COVID-19 and death,” the province’s website said.
The majority of hospitalizations for COVID-19 are among people aged 60 to 79, it said.
Fewer new positive cases of COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday, but fewer tests were performed than last week’s COVIDWatch report. (Government of New Brunswick)
A child under 10 and another aged 10 to 19 were among those admitted to hospital for COVID-19 during the reporting period from April 24 to April 30, the website said.
New hospital admissions for COVID, including admissions to the intensive care unit, fell to 64 this week from 74 last week.
Others include two in their 20s, two in their 30s, two in their 40s, four in their 50s, six in their 60s, 21 in their 70s, 14 in their 80s and 11 in their 90s.
Among the seven people admitted to intensive care, two are in their 40s, one in their 60s, three in their 70s and one in their 80s.
Of the 127 COVID-related hospitalizations reported by regional health authorities, Horizon has 86 of them as of Saturday, down from 106 in last week’s report, according to its scoreboard. Nine of these patients are in intensive care, compared to 15.
The regional breakdown of Horizon’s active hospitalizations on Saturday includes:
- Moncton Region, Zones 1 – 28
- St. John’s District, Zones 2-31
- Fredericton Region, Zone 3 – 20
- Miramichi District, Zone 7 – Seven
Vitalité has 37 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, four of whom are in intensive care.
19 active outbreaks
According to regional health authorities, there are active outbreaks of COVID-19 in 19 hospital wards across the province, up from 28 last week.
Horizon has 11 outbreaks. Six are in the Moncton area, area 1, four are in the St. John area, area 2 and one is in the Fredericton area, area 3, according to the dashboard schedule, but hospitals and units have not been identified.
Vitaly has the other eight. They include:
- Moncton Region, Zone 1 – Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center, Geriatric Ward (3E) and Veterans Health Center, Ward 300
- Campbellton Region, Zone 5 – Campbellton Regional Hospital, in the geriatric ward, transitional care ward and veterans ward
- Bathurst Region, Zone 6 – Enfant-Jésus RHSJ Hospital, in the medical ward, and Tracadie Hospital, in the medical ward and 2nd Northern Unit
No Horizon hospitals are listed as overcapacity, but five Vitalité hospitals have more than 100 percent occupancy. Only two of them have patients with COVID-19.
Tracadie Hospital has a 105 percent capacity with three COVID patients, while Dr Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center has a 104 percent capacity with 11 COVID patients.
At least 252 health workers are out of work isolated because of COVID, which is less than the 367 reported last Tuesday.
Horizon has 106 employees who tested positive on Saturday, which is less than 142.
Vitalité dismisses 105 infected health workers, plus another 41 who have been “fired” due to positive contact, making the total number of absent staff 146, compared to 225.
Horizon did not say how many employees were isolated as a precautionary measure after coming into contact with a positive case.
Reduction of new cases – and PCR tests
The number of new cases of COVID-19 fell to 2,534 in Tuesday’s report, compared to 3,964 last week and 5,645 the previous week.
But this is based in part on PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, and about 2,000 fewer tests were performed on April 24-30 compared to April 17-23, according to the COVIDWatch report.
There were 1392 cases confirmed by PCR tests, making the total number of PCR-confirmed active cases in the whole province at 2281, a decrease of 3134.
The number of province-wide PCR tests dropped to 6,612 out of 8,660. The Moncton region, Zone 1, saw the biggest drop to 3,168 out of 4,668.
Another 1,142 people also said they tested positive in rapid tests.
Between April 24 and April 30, another 885 people received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, raising the increase to 52 percent from 51.9 percent in last week’s COVIDWatch report. (Jenny Evans / Getty Images)
Of the 1,392 new PCR cases, 74.5% were “protected”, which public health described as reinforced or fully vaccinated in less than six months.
The remaining 25.5% were “unprotected”, which public health defined as fully vaccinated for more than six months, partially vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Vaccine status for new deaths and hospitalizations has not been granted, but of the 251 deaths reported since December 5, 53.4 per cent are protected.
Of the hospitalizations reported during the same period, 48.2% were protected, and only among those admitted to the intensive care unit 35.1% were protected.
A total of 52% of eligible New Brunswickers are now boosted after another 885 people received their booster vaccine against COVID-19, up from 51.9% a week ago, 87.9% received two doses in compared to 87.8% (more than 233 people), and 93.1% received their first dose, again unchanged (146 people more).
New Brunswick has 62,148 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with 59,468 cured so far, which are now being described as “resolved” cases.
Overview of the Atlantic COVID
PEI announced a new death related to COVID in its weekly report on Tuesday, a man aged 40 to 59.
Six people on the Island were hospitalized for COVID-19, while another seven were admitted for other reasons and were COVID-positive at or after admission.
The PEI confirmed 1,163 new cases of COVID since the last update on 26 April.
On Monday, Newfoundland and Labrador reported another death from COVID-19, a man of the 80’s.
Hospitalizations jumped to 24 out of 16 on Friday. Three people are in intensive care.
The health department also reported 197 new cases as of Friday, but no longer publishes data on how many people have been tested and is limiting PCR testing.
Nova Scotia, in its latest weekly update on April 26, reported 24 COVID-related deaths.
55 people are in hospital for COVID-19, including 10 in intensive care.
A total of 5,436 new cases were confirmed by PCR tests.
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