N.B. reports 70 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, active cases rise to 580

N.B. to increase enforcement in Moncton region New Brunswick will be increasing COVID-19 enforcementin the Moncton region. Laura Lyall reports.

HALIFAX — Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 70 new COVID-19 cases and 38 recoveries on Thursday, as the total number of active cases in the province rises to 580.

Thursday's new cases were identified in the following zones:

According to health officials, 45 of Thursday's 70 new cases, or 64 per cent, are unvaccinated and 25 cases, or 36 per cent, are fully vaccinated.

The province says there are currently 18 people in hospital in New Brunswick due to COVID-19, with 11 in an intensive care unit. Of those currently in hospital, 14 are unvaccinated, one is partially vaccinated and three are fully vaccinated.

Of the 11 people in the ICU, nine are unvaccinated, one is partially vaccinated and one is fully vaccinated.

CIRCUIT BREAKER MEASURES

During Wednesday’s news update, N.B. health officials announced that circuit breaker measures will be implemented in most of the Miramichi region (Zone 7) as of 6 p.m. on Friday.

The circuit breaker will be in effect for all of Zone 7 with the exception of Black River Bridge and communities to the east, Murray Settlement and areas south, and New Jersey and communities north.

The Saint John region (Zone 2) will see its circuit breaker measures lifted at 6 p.m. Friday, but parts of the Moncton region (Zone 1) will have circuit breaker measures extended for at least another week.

“There are 22 new cases in the Saint John region today and we are monitoring the situation,” said Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health in a news release. “However, many of the positive cases today are from people who previously had positive results from rapid tests and were already self-isolating while they waited for confirmation of a PCR test. At this time, Public Health remains comfortable removing the circuit breaker in the zone as those people were isolating.”

The circuit breaker will continue for another seven days in parts of Zone 1 (Moncton region) but will be reduced to only cover the municipalities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview. The other areas of Zone 1 currently in a circuit breaker will have those restrictions lifted on Friday at 6 p.m.

“The issue in Greater Moncton has been people not properly self-isolating,” said Russell. “It is critical that everyone follows the rules and not have gatherings in homes as we have seen transmission in households from people who shouldn’t be in the home in the first place, due to the circuit breaker restrictions. Transmission in households is where we’re seeing more than half of the new cases in the area.”

More information about the circuit breaker rules, including a detailed list and map of affected communities, is available online.

CASE DATA

New Brunswick has had 7,004 cumulative cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

In total, 6,302 people have recovered and 121 people have died in the province from COVID-19.

Public health says a total of 534,296 COVID-19 tests have been processed since the start of the pandemic.

The number of cases are broken down by New Brunswick’s seven health zones:

VACCINE UPDATE

As of Thursday, 86.3 per cent of New Brunswickers age 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 93 per cent have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In total, 1,248,811 vaccine doses have been administered in New Brunswick.

All provincial government employees, staff in long-term care facilities and staff and volunteers in schools and licensed early learning and child-care facilities must be fully vaccinated by Friday, Nov. 19.

All eligible New Brunswickers can book their second dose appointments now for a date that is at least 28 days after their first dose.

CASES IN SCHOOLS AND CHILD-CARE FACILITIES

New Brunswick Health officials say 69 early learning and child-care facilities have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 since Sept. 7.

You can find information on cases in schools on the Healthy and Safe Schools website and the COVID-19 dashboard.

POTENTIAL PUBLIC EXPOSURES

A full list of potential COVID-19 exposure notifications in New Brunswick can be found on the province's website.

Anyone with symptoms of the virus, as well as anyone who has been at the site of a possible public exposure, is urged to request a test online or call Tele-Care at 811 to get an appointment.