N.B. reports 5 deaths, drop in hospitalizations and cases in weekly COVID-19 report

For the second week in a row, New Brunswick is reporting five deaths related to COVID-19 in its weekly update.

The province is also reporting a drop in hospitalizations and cases.

The new COVID-19 data released Tuesday covers a seven-day period, from May 15 to 21.

As of Tuesday, the province has reported 416 deaths related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Dr. Yves Leger, the acting medical officer of health for the East Region, says it isn’t clear exactly how many people who catch COVID-19 will develop “long COVID.”

“We’re still sort of learning what that looks like, how long these symptoms can last, and how best to manage or provide care to these individuals,” said Leger in an interview with CTV News.

He says preliminary surveys have been done to show how many people will develop the condition.

“Whether it’s 10 per cent, 20 per cent, 30 per cent of people who continue to report symptoms, certainly the trend seems to suggest that it’s a fair number of individuals.”

HOSPITALIZATIONS

Twenty-seven people in the province are currently in hospital with the virus, two of whom are in the intensive care unit.

There are eight fewer hospitalizations this week than there were last week.

“Certainly the numbers are suggesting right now that we’re on the down slope, so that transmission in our communities is going down – but not zero,” said Leger.

“Our modeling had predicted that we would reach peak probably around mid-April and then sort of head back down from there. So, while modeling is not 100 per cent accurate, certainly it’s very similar to what we had expected.”

There was a decrease in the number of new hospital admissions for COVID-19 this week at 21, compared to 24 last week.

The province says the highest portion of hospitalizations for COVID-19 is among people in their 60s and 70s.

The seven-day moving average of new hospitalizations sits at 34.

NEW CASES

The province is reporting 768 new PCR-confirmed cases of COVID-19 — 236 fewer cases than were reported last week.

• Zone 1: 197
• Zone 2: 168
• Zone 3: 233
• Zone 4: 39
• Zone 5: 12
• Zone 6: 80
• Zone 7: 39

The seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick is 110 — 33 less than the average reported last week.

The province says 642 new cases were also identified through rapid tests.

VACCINATIONS

As of Tuesday, 93.2 per cent of New Brunswickers have one dose of vaccine, 88 per cent have two doses, and 52.3 per cent have received a booster dose.

From May 15 to 21:

• 86 people got their first dose of vaccine
• 207 got their second
• 682 received a booster dose