VACCINATIONS INCH ALONG
The vaccination effort in New Brunswick continues to inch along, with numbers on Tuesday showing 71.5% of eligible people having received two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In Sackville, the number is higher, hitting 79% as of August 10. The percentage of eligible Sackvillians who have received at least one shot was 93% on August 10, while for the province as a whole it sits at 83.4% as of Tuesday.
(Note: While the province provided the vaccination rates for Sackville, it did not provide information on how the number was derived, and whether population figures used account for the Mount Allison student population or not.)
Sackville’s Corner Drug Store doing its part to increase those numbers. The pharmacy is hosting walk-in vaccination clinics offering the Pfizer vaccine this Wednesday August 18 and next Wednesday August 25, from 10am to 6:30pm.
PROVINCE STILL SHORT OF 75% DOUBLE SHOT GOAL
About 22,000 shots were administered province-wide in the past week. That’s almost double the number administered the previous week, but still well below the rates achieved in May, June and July.
New Brunswick has yet to reach the provincial goal of 75% of eligible people double vaccinated, which was the original trigger announced for the end of the province’s emergency order. Another 23,995 second doses need to be administered before reaching that goal.
SECOND HOSPITALIZATION SO FAR IN FOURTH WAVE
Vaccinations and younger demographics seem to be keeping people out of hospital so far in the fourth wave of COVID-19 as it hits New Brunswick.
In updates Monday and Tuesday, the province announced another 53 new cases of the disease, bringing the provincial active case total to 110. But despite the higher numbers, hospitalizations have remained close to zero. One person is currently in hospital as of Tuesday, and another was in hospital over the weekend but has since been discharged.
YOUNG AND UNVACCINATED DOMINATE NEW CASE NUMBERS
On Monday, public health said 86 per cent of cases since July 1 have been in people who are not fully vaccinated. That means 14 per cent, or 27 cases, were in people who were fully vaccinated, and more in people who have had just one shot.
Public health also says that recent cases have skewed young, with numbers concentrated in people under 40, especially in the Zone 1 health region. Zone 1 reported 44 new cases on Monday and Tuesday, and 28 of those—well over half—are in people under 40. The rest of the cases were in people ranging in age up to their 80s.
Zone 1 has by far the lion’s share of active cases in the province, with 85 cases as of Tuesday.
TWO OUTBREAKS DECLARED
An employee and a resident of a 50-bed nursing home in Riverside-Albert recently tested positive for COVID-19, and the province has declared an outbreak at the home.
Mass testing of residents and employees took place on Friday at Forest Dale Home, to be followed by two more rounds.
Another outbreak has also been declared at The Owl and Friends Learning Centre in Moncton, where there have been four recently confirmed cases of COVID-19. The day care will remain closed until August 24.
POTENTIAL PUBLIC EXPOSURE LIST GROWS
There’s a long list of potential public exposure sites for Zone 1, with the latest additions of COSTCO and the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse in Moncton on August 11 and 7, respectively.
A new flight advisory was also issued for Air Canada flight 8904 from Montreal to Moncton on August 7.