Seven more New Brunswickers have died from COVID-19, pushing the pandemic death toll past 400, but the number of people hospitalized because of the virus dropped to 47 from 81 in the past week, according to Tuesday’s weekly update from the province.
The number of people requiring intensive care has also dropped, to six from 10, the COVIDWatch website shows.
The two regional health authorities, meanwhile, report 102 patients with COVID-19 are in hospital, down from 127, including 12 in ICU, down from 13.
The province counts only people hospitalized for COVID, whereas Horizon and Vitalité also include those who were initially admitted for another reason and later tested positive for the virus.
The latest deaths include two people in their 70s, four people in their 80s and one person in their 90s, based on a comparison of this week’s report to last week, when 15 new deaths were reported.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have now been 406 COVID-related deaths.
“Individuals that are unprotected by vaccine continue to have the highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 and death,” according to the province’s website.
The highest portion of hospitalizations for COVID-19 between May 1 and May 7 is among individuals aged 60 to 79, it states.
The number of new hospital admissions for COVID-19 also dropped this week to 35, from 64.
Two children under age 10 are among the new admissions. The three people newly admitted to ICU include a person in their 40s, one in their 60s and one in their 90s, the website shows.
Of the 102 COVID-related hospitalizations reported by the regional health authorities, 67 patients are at Horizon hospitals, down from 86 in last week’s report. Seven of them are in ICU, a decrease of two, Tuesday’s update shows..
Vitalité has 35 patients in hospital, down two, including five in intensive care, up one, its weekly report shows.
18 hospital unit outbreaks
There are COVID-19 outbreaks in 18 hospital units across the province as of Saturday.
Eleven of them are at Horizon hospitals, six in the Fredericton region, Zone 1, and five in the Saint John region, Zone 2. No other details are available.
Vitalité has COVID-19 outbreaks on seven hospital units, according to Tuesday’s report. These include:
- Moncton region, Zone 1 — Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre, on the geriatric unit (3E) and Veterans’ Health Centre, Unit 300
- Campbellton region, Zone 5 — Campbellton Regional Hospital, on the transitional care unit and the veterans unit
- Bathurst region, Zone 6 — Enfant-Jésus RHSJ Hospital, on the medical unit, and Tracadie Hospital, on the medical unit and 2nd north unit
196 health-care workers off
At least 196 health-care workers are off the job, isolating because of COVID, down from 252 reported last week.
Eighty-one Horizon employees have tested positive for COVID-19, a decrease of 25.
Vitalité has 115 health-care workers off, down from 225. Eighty of them tested positive, while the other 35 were “removed from work” because of a contact with a positive case.
Six Vitalité hospitals are listed as being at or over capacity, but only two of them have COVID-19 patients.
The Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, which has the highest number of COVID patients at 13, including two in intensive care, has a bed occupancy rate of 100 per cent, while the Tracadie Hospital, which has five COVID patients, has a bed occupancy rate of 103 per cent.
The other Vitalité hospitals with COVID patients include: Campbellton Regional Hospital (six, including one in ICU), Chaleur Regional Hospital (six, including one in ICU), and Edmundston Regional Hospital (five, including one in ICU).
Overall, Vitalité hospital occupancy is 91 per cent, down from 95 per cent.
Horizon does not include occupancy statistics on its COVID-19 dashboard.
New cases and vaccinations
A total of 2,369 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past week, including 1,338 confirmed through PCR lab tests and 1,031 self-reported by people who tested positive on rapid tests.
A total of 52.1 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are now boosted, up from 52 per cent a week ago after 769 more people received their COVID-19 booster shot.
The percentage of people double-dosed remains unchanged at 87.9 per cent after just 222 more people rolled up their sleeves, and first vaccinations remain stalled at 93.1 per cent with only 170 more people getting a shot.
Atlantic COVID roundup
Nova Scotia reported 22 COVID-related deaths in its last weekly update Thursday, the second highest weekly count since the pandemic began. The previous week saw 24 deaths.
There are 47 Nova Scotians currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, including 12 in ICU. Another 192 people tested positive when they were admitted to hospital for another health issue. A further 188 patients contracted COVID-19 after admission to the hospital.
Newfoundland and Labrador said in its COVID-19 update Friday there were no COVID-related deaths in the province since Wednesday. There are 17 people hospitalized because of the virus, with five in critical care.
On May 3, P.E.I. reported one new death related to COVID-19 the previous week. Six people were in hospital because of COVID-19. Seven others were admitted for other reasons and were COVID-positive on or after admission. There was nobody in the intensive care unit being treated for COVID-19.
Reference-www.cbc.ca