This afternoon I spoke with New Brunswick's CMOH Dr. Jennifer Russell about the current situation in the province. @Global_NB
On her main concerns as we hit more than 1,000 active cases, the strain on the hospital system is one.
Russell says the two health authorities have collaborated effectively so far in keeping things as stable as it can.
Russell says the two health authorities have collaborated effectively so far in keeping things as stable as it can.
"They have worked extraordinarily hard," she said.
Both Vitalite Health Network and Horizon Health Network move to the red level -- which effectively reduces or stops all non-essential hospital services.
Both Vitalite Health Network and Horizon Health Network move to the red level -- which effectively reduces or stops all non-essential hospital services.
She said the vaccination rates are another concern.
"We do see some incremental increases there but we definitely have more work to do," she said of vaccination rates.
"We do see some incremental increases there but we definitely have more work to do," she said of vaccination rates.
Russell says Public Health will know in about a week or so if the restrictions they put in place have worked to reduce the spread of virus -- which included re-instating masks.
She said, right now, there are no plans for rapid tests to be made publicly available.
As for Thanksgiving weekend-rule breakers:
"I think these measures were put in place to protect the health care system. The fewer contacts you have the fewer case we'll have. That's the effect we're looking for, we're looking for those case numbers to go down."
"I think these measures were put in place to protect the health care system. The fewer contacts you have the fewer case we'll have. That's the effect we're looking for, we're looking for those case numbers to go down."
"It is imperative people follow Public Health measures in place now," she added.
In a presentation, Dr. Gordon Dow mentioned that New Brunswick has actually faced about seven waves of the virus -- we are in the seventh and the worse to date.
I asked Russell about what she thought contributed to that.
I asked Russell about what she thought contributed to that.
"So this wave definitely had the potential to be a very large one which it is, but that part is not necessarily surprising in the sense that we knew reducing measures/restrictions in the summer was going to result in more cases ..."
"There is no question about that. However, what is problematic is the fact that our vaccination rates remained low in certain areas in the province and in terms of being able to protect the population from this wave. Case numbers would translate into fewer ..."
"...hospitalizations if all of those cases were in vaccinated people. We do see that in other jurisdictions where vaccination rates are much, much higher than here. They have lots of breakthrough cases but that doesn't translate into a proportion of people ..."
"...requiring hospitalization compared to unvaccinated cases."
On further restrictions:
Russell says they are taking it day-by-day and hour-by-hour, adding only by following the current restrictions can people in the province have the biggest impact on the situation it finds itself in.
Russell says they are taking it day-by-day and hour-by-hour, adding only by following the current restrictions can people in the province have the biggest impact on the situation it finds itself in.
Since Oct. 6, there have been 588 reported cases of COVID-19 -- on average 98 cases per day.
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