Seven more New Brunswickers have died from COVID-19, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to more than 400, but the number of people hospitalized due to the virus dropped to 47 from 81 last week, according to the province’s weekly tuesday update.
The number of people requiring intensive care has also been reduced, from 10 to six, the COVIDWatch website shows
Meanwhile, the two regional health authorities report that 102 COVID-19 patients are in hospital, up from 127, including 12 in the ICU, up from 13.
The province counts only people hospitalized for COVID, while 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, according to a comparison of this week’s report with last week, when 15 new deaths were reported.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 406 COVID-related deaths.
“People who are not protected by the vaccine continue to have the highest rate of COVID-19 hospitalization and death,” according to the province’s website.
The bulk of COVID-19 hospitalizations between May 1 and May 7 are among people ages 60 to 79, he says.
The number of new hospital admissions for COVID-19 also fell this week from 64 to 35.
Two children under the age of 10 are among the new admissions. The three people newly admitted to the ICU include a 40-year-old, a 60-year-old and a 90-year-old, the website shows.
Of the 102 COVID-related hospitalizations reported by regional health authorities, 67 patients are at Horizon hospitals, up from 86 in last week’s report. Seven of them are in ICU, a decrease of two, tuesday update shows..
Vitalité has 35 patients in hospital, two less, including five in intensive care, one more, your weekly report shows
18 outbreaks in hospital units
There are outbreaks of COVID-19 in 18 hospital units across the province as of Saturday.
Eleven of them are in Horizon hospitals, six in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, and five in the Saint John region, Zone 2. No further details are available on the dashboard, but spokesman Kris McDavid told CBC they include :
- Moncton Region, Zone 1: Moncton Hospital, Cardiac Unit 3400, Stroke Unit 4600, Pediatric Psychiatric Unit 3700, and Neurological Unit 4100; and Sackville Memorial Hospital, in the Brunswick West unit
- Saint John Region, Zone 2: Saint John Regional Hospital, Family Practice 5C North, Family Practice 5C South, and Transitional Care Unit 4B North; St. Joseph’s Hospital, Restorative Care Unit, 6th Floor; and Centracare, sustained care unit
The North Saint John Regional Hospital 5C Family Medicine outbreak dates back to February 28.
There are also numerous “exposure units” at Moncton Hospital, Saint John Regional Hospital, St. Jospeh Hospital, Charlotte County Hospital, and Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.
Vitalité has outbreaks of COVID-19 in seven hospital units, according to Tuesday’s report. These include:
- Moncton Region, Zone 1 — Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center, in the geriatric unit (3E) and Veterans Health Center, Unit 300
- Campbellton Region, Zone 5 — Campbellton Regional Hospital, in the transitional care unit and the veterans unit
- Bathurst Region, Zone 6 — Hospital Enfant-Jésus RHSJ, in the medical unit, and Hospital Tracadie, in the medical unit and 2nd north unit
196 health workers out
At least 196 healthcare workers are out of work, in isolation due to COVID, up from 252 reported last week.
Eighty-one Horizon employees have tested positive for COVID-19, a decrease of 25.
Vitalité has 115 health workers on leave, compared to 225. Eighty of them tested positive, while the other 35 were “removed from work” due to contact with a positive case.
Six Vitalité hospitals are at or above capacity, but only two of them have COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center in Moncton, which has the highest number of COVID patients with 13, including two in intensive care, has a 100 percent bed occupancy rate, while Tracadie Hospital , which has five COVID patients, has a 103 percent bed occupancy rate.
Vitalité’s other 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).
In general, the occupancy of the Vitalité hospital is 91 percent, down from 95 percent.
Horizon does not include occupancy statistics on its COVID-19 dashboard, but none have excess capacity, according to statistics provided by the spokesperson. Moncton Hospital has the highest bed occupancy at 97 percent.
New cases and evidence both below
A total of 2,369 new cases of COVID-19 were reported between May 1 and May 7, including 1,338 confirmed through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) laboratory tests and 1,031 self-reported by people who tested positive. fast.
That’s 165 fewer than last Tuesday’s update.
But there were also 223 fewer PCR tests performed: 6,389 compared to 6,612 last week.
The Bathurst region, Zone 6, saw the biggest drop, at 378 out of 486, followed by the Miramichi region, Zone 7, at 174, out of 278, and the Campbellton region, Zone 5, at 211, out of 300.
The number of reported positive rapid tests also decreased by 111 from 1,142, the website shows.
Asked how reliable the province believes the new case numbers are, given the drop in testing, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told CBC: “I think we always know there’s some flux with these numbers. , especially knowing when we went with fewer restrictions on March 14, the likelihood that we’ll miss some people who do POCT [rapid] tests and do not do PCR tests, maybe not self-report.
“However, I think we can rely on our hospitalizations, our ICU admissions and deaths to understand how those trends are going, and fortunately they are declining.”
The province plans to continue monitoring wastewater for COVID-19, Shephard confirmed.
“Right now we’re looking to explore a federal program that aligns more with the data we need. So I don’t have much on that for you guys today, but I know the department is working on it.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada has launched a new online page COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Board to illustrate trends in various jurisdictions and help people make decisions about personal precautions, but New Brunswick is not represented.
Data from Halifax and 17 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador are included, along with several areas in Alberta, BC, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.
PEI just started sewage testing last Thursday.
Low vaccine uptake ‘a concern’
A total of 52.1 percent of eligible New Brunswick residents are now boosted, up from 52 percent a week ago after 769 more people received their COVID-19 booster shot.
The percentage of people who received the double dose remains unchanged at 87.9 percent after only 222 more people rolled up their sleeves, and the first vaccines remain stuck at 93.1 percent with only 170 more people receiving the vaccine.
“It’s a concern in my mind,” Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s why we’re absolutely pushing, you know, radio ads, and talking about this as often and [at] every chance we get.”
People are “tired of COVID,” he said, but that doesn’t change the fact that pushing is “very important.”
“It’s a way to keep our hospitalizations down and certainly ICU admissions and deaths,” he said. “We need to continue to get that message across. And I intend to.”
Summary of COVID in the Atlantic
PEI reported six new COVID-19-related deaths in the past week, in its Tuesday update. Six people are in the hospital because of COVID-19. Another six were admitted for other reasons and tested positive for COVID-19 during or after admission.
Nova Scotia reported 22 COVID-related deaths in its latest weekly update on Thursday, the second-highest weekly tally since the pandemic began. The week before there were 24 deaths.
There are currently 47 Nova Scotians hospitalized due to COVID-19, including 12 in the ICU. Another 192 people tested positive when they were admitted to hospital for another health problem. Another 188 patients contracted COVID-19 after hospital admission.
Newfoundland and Labrador said in their COVID-19 update on Friday that there have been no COVID-related deaths in the province since Wednesday. There are 17 people hospitalized from the virus, with five in critical care.
Reference-www.cbc.ca