Dr. Jennifer Russell updates the COVID-19 situation in New Brunswick, Photo courtesy: CPAC.
New Brunswick Public Health announced seven new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
Six of the cases were in the Edmundston Zone 4 region while the other was in the Fredericton Zone 3 region.
The province is reporting record numbers of hospitalizations in Zone 4 as the region struggles with the variant strain first identified in the U.K.
According to Vitalité Health Network, there are now 13 COVID-19 patients receiving care at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, seven of whom are in the intensive care unit and six are on respirators.
Two patients have been transferred to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.
Across the province, there are 20 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 13 of them are in intensive care.
There are now 146 active cases of COVID-19 across the province, down from 163 cases on Wednesday.
The province’s chief medical officer of health said the province is seeing how dangerous the U.K. variant can be.
“The variant is much more serious in terms of the symptoms it can cause, and the requirement for hospital ICU admissions as well,” Dr. Jennifer Russell said.
Russell said the province’s plan to handle the pandemic is now focused around the three Vs: vaccines, variants and vigilance.
New Brunswick reached a milestone of 100,000 vaccinations over the Easter weekend, and Russell reported more than 121,000 New Brunswickers have received at least one dose.
That makes more than 18 per cent of the adult population province-wide has been at least partially vaccinated.
Meanwhile, in Zone 4, more than 28 per cent of adults have now received at least one dose, as Public Health ramps up its vaccine rollout to help fight community transmission in that region.
Three large clusters of transmission have been identified, and several other smaller clusters are currently being investigated by Public Health.
Due to the continued high rate of transmission, Red level restrictions introduced in March will continue in the Edmundston region.
The provincial government is still hoping to have every adult receive at least one dose of the vaccine by June.
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said they continue to be on track to have all New Brunswickers over the age of 60 vaccinated by the end of May.
Changes to plans for high school students
Shephard also updated the province’s return to school plan for high schools, as the date for all New Brunswick schools returning full time draws closer.
As planned, schools in orange or yellow level regions will return to full-time in-person learning as early as April 12.
However, schools in red levels will maintain blended learning processes similar to the first several months of this school year.
There are also some schools in northern regions of the province that are not yet ready to return to the classroom next week due to delays for vaccination clinics for school staff.
