New Brunswick Has Another COVID-Related Death

New Brunswick recorded its 24th death linked to the pandemic on Tuesday.

The patient was someone in their 80s who was a long-term care resident at Manoir Belle Vue in Edmundston.

Three new cases of the virus were announced Tuesday: one in Zone 1 (Moncton health region) and two in Zone 4 (Edmundston health region).

The number of active cases is 130 following 10 recoveries since Monday.

The province also said it was monitoring Zone 4 to see when it could change from the red level to orange, to match with the other six provincial health zones.

“Our goal is to have Zone 4 in the orange alert level as soon as possible,” said Dorothy Shephard, the province’s health minister. “Public Health continues to assess the situation in the Edmundston region to determine when it will be safe to change the alert level.”

Tuesday’s news conference also featured an announcement that the outbreak at Shannex Parkland Saint John was over.

Shephard said she was pleased to see the outbreak come to an end.

“It was a long road for the facility with the outbreak announced on November 21,” Shephard said. “Having the outbreak declared over is good news and a positive step for our province.”

Meanwhile, the province updated its vaccine rollout progress. So far, 21,182 doses of the vaccine have been issued, and 7,505 New Brunswickers have received both doses and are now fully vaccinated.

Shephard said the province is making headway in its goal of vaccinating all high-risk New Brunswickers, as well as the province’s many healthcare workers.

The latest update reports nearly 50 per cent of provincial healthcare workers have received at least one dose of the vaccination, while more than 3,000 long-term care residents have received a dose.

The update follows previously-announced delays in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipment, which threatened to derail Canada’s vaccine rollout.

“We are expecting a shipment of 8,190 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech this week, and we then expect 9,360 doses of Pfizer vaccine weekly through April,” said Shephard.

BREAKING: Dr. Russell reveals another death linked to COVID-19. The person who died was in their 80s and a resident of a long-term care home in the Edmundston region, Zone 4.

— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) February 16, 2021