There were 797 confirmed cases of COVID between August 14 and 20, compared to 675 cases the previous week — an 18 percent increase.
The death toll rose slightly – six compared to five the previous week – and included one person in his 30s. While age is still an important risk factor, young people can still die from COVID-19, said Dr. Yves Léger, the province’s deputy chief medical officer of health, on Tuesday after the weekly statistics on COVID-19 were released. Léger said age has always been one of the most important risk factors for severe outcomes of COVID infections.

Other risk factors influence cases among young people

He said younger people almost always have a lower risk of dying from the disease. “However, there are other risk factors that increase the risk of severe outcomes from COVID. Thus, people who are immunocompromised or have one or more underlying medical conditions, for example, are also at increased risk of severe outcomes.” Active cases also rose last week — 1,110 compared to 993 the previous week.
The number of hospital admissions for COVID-19 was unchanged at 22, while “active” hospitalizations, ICU patients and the moving average of seven days of hospitalization decreased. The highest rate of hospitalizations for COVID-19 continues to be among people between the ages of 70 and 89. The report for the past week shows the age and vaccine status of the cases. (Government of New Brunswick) Omicron’s BA-5 sub-variant continues to dominate in New Brunswick. Of the PCR-confirmed cases last week, 94 percent of the samples were from the BA.5 strain, up from 86 the previous week. This number has been steadily increasing since the BA-5 first appeared in the province. Other case rates for each Omicron subvariable are as follows:

0 percent of samples are BA.1, unchanged from last week 1 percent of samples are BA.2, up from 2 percent last week 0 percent of samples are BA.3, unchanged from last week 5 percent of samples are BA.4, up from 12 percent last week

“This week’s report shows some improvements in some indicators and some stability in others as well,” said Léger. “Overall, we’re seeing some improvements every week.”

“Strange” definition of vaccine protection

New Brunswick breaks down many of its statistics about COVID by a person’s vaccine status, which it describes as either “protected” or “unprotected.” This approach has been criticized for being confusing and misleading. It seems to show that people who have been vaccinated die at a higher rate than those who have not been vaccinated. While the numbers appear to paint an alarming picture, they are not accurate, said Raywat Deonandan, a global health epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. He said the problem is the way the provincial government calculates the charge, which makes it appear that those who have been vaccinated are more likely to die — which is far from the case. The term “protected” is defined as having been boosted or fully vaccinated within the last six months, while “unprotected” refers to being fully vaccinated for more than six months, partially vaccinated or not vaccinated. Immunization status, proportion and rate per 100,000 for hospitalizations and deaths reported as of December 5, 2021. (Government of New Brunswick) This means that someone with two doses and a reminder – albeit more than six months ago – meets someone who hasn’t had a single dose. While that first person’s immunity may have weakened, it’s certainly much better than someone who hasn’t had any vaccinations, Deonandan said. He said international statistics show the death rate is three to four times higher for unvaccinated people, he said. Léger said the department is aware of the issue with its definitions and is “currently looking into it as we speak.” In light of the Omicron wave, he said the province’s definition is no longer “as precise or as good, in terms of measuring the protection that the vaccine provides.” “With the Omicron wave, the way it’s defined doesn’t count as well as we’d like, so we’re going to look at that definition.”

Test kit requirements

Léger said New Brunswick has “a good supply” of rapid test kits available — and officials want to keep it that way. That’s why the province will continue to give kits only to people who show symptoms — unlike some provinces that give kits to anyone who wants them, even if there are no symptoms. In New Brunswick, people with symptoms are asked to register online or by calling 811 and make an appointment to pick up a test kit at one of several locations across the province. Dr. Yves Léger is the deputy chief medical officer of health for New Brunswick. (Shane Magee/CBC) Léger said there’s another reason the province only tests symptomatic people — the tests don’t perform as well as those without symptoms. “They tend to perform better when people have symptoms, and to make sure we also have supplies for the foreseeable future, we’ve decided to make them available for people who are showing symptoms of COVID.”

Regional health authorities

The two provincial health authorities also publish weekly reports, but the categories – and often the criteria – differ from the provincial weekly report. For example, the province only reports patients who are admitted to the hospital because they have COVID. The Horizon and Vitalité reports include patients who were initially admitted for another reason and later tested positive for the virus. In its most recent weekly report, Vitalité Health Network reports 18 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, half of the previous week’s 36 and a continuation of the downward trend. Only one patient was recorded in the ICU. Vitalité also says 138 employees have been out of work due to COVID-19 — up from 144 the previous week. Bed occupancy rates were at 100%, up from 99 the previous week. Horizon reported 95 active admissions, six ICU patients and 99 employees who tested positive. Vitalité reported five hospital units with cases at two hospitals — four at University Hospital Center Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont and one at Edmundston Regional Hospital. Horizon reported cases in 22 units.