N.B. says all nursing home residents have received COVID-19 booster shot; reports 52 new cases Tuesday

Masks are here to stay: N.B. health minsiter Even though COVID-19 case numbers are trending downward, New Brunswick will keep mask mandates. Alyson Samson reports.

HALIFAX — Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 52 new COVID-19 cases and 33 recoveries on Tuesday, as the total number of active cases in the province rises to 523.

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

“The continued increase in cases in Zone 1, the Moncton region, is concerning,” said Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health in a release. “The circuit breaker measures work, but only if everyone follows them. I encourage people in this region and across the province to do everything within their power to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

According to health officials, 34 of Tuesday's 52 new cases, or 65 per cent, are unvaccinated. One case, or two per cent, are partially vaccinated, and 17 cases, or 33 per cent, are fully vaccinated.

The province says there are currently 16 people in hospital in New Brunswick due to COVID-19, with 10 in an intensive care unit. Of those currently in hospital, 13 are unvaccinated, and three are fully vaccinated.

Of the 10 people in the ICU, nine are unvaccinated, and one is fully vaccinated.

BOOSTER DOSES FOR NURSING HOME RESIDENTS COMPLETED

New Brunswick health officials say they have completed the rollout of booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for residents at nursing homes in the province.

"The process continues at adult residential facilities, with 82 per cent complete. The rest of those facilities will be done by the end of the month," says the province in a release.

“We know residents of these facilities are more vulnerable to COVID-19 if they catch it,” added Russell in a release. “By providing boosters to these residents, we can improve their protection and reduce the risk of them being hospitalized or becoming severely ill.”

Since COVID-19 booster vaccines were made available earlier this fall for vulnerable populations and those who originally had AstraZeneca, N.B. Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says uptake has been good.

"I can't give you the AstraZeneca numbers I don't have those with me today but I do know that since Sept 24, we've given 7,884 boosters,” said Shephard. “That's going to include long term care, first nations, immunocompromised and medical professional staff who received their vaccinations early,".

Some pharmacists say they have received calls from people who want to have matching vaccine doses.

"There's a lot of people looking for booster shots, lots of phone calls at the pharmacy,” said Ryan Quinn, Pharmacist and Owner Kings Place Lawtons.

"There's a number of people that want to have two consecutive vaccines that are the same for travel purposes, the U.S. has changed, some countries will allow but some still won't approve two mixed doses, so there's a lot of people looking for that reason, and there's a lot of people who are just concerned and want to make sure that they're protected as possible against COVID-19.”

CASE DATA

New Brunswick has had 6,865 cumulative cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

In total, 6,220 people have recovered and 121 people have died in the province from COVID-19.

Public health says a total of 532,024 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:

With more than half of Tuesday's new cases reported in the Moncton region, opposition politicians are concerned about the continued spread despite the circuit breaker measures.

"In my area in Zone One, there's certainly something that needs to be looked into, where you have constantly between 25 and what 35 cases daily, I've actually asked public health to dive deeper into the situation over there," Roger Melanson, leader of N.B. Liberal party.

Circuit breakers remain in parts of the Moncton and Saint John regions.

"It's very worrisome, what is happening there compared to where the circuit breaker worked in the Upper River Valley and Edmundston and Restigouche areas," added David Coon, leader of N.B. Green Party. "Something's fundamentally different going on in Moncton that needs to be addressed."

VACCINE UPDATE

As of Tuesday, 86.1 per cent of New Brunswickers age 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 92.9 per cent have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In total, 1,246,187 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 68 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.