Wastewater COVID-19 tracking could come to Sackville in 2024
Sackville may soon join the list of 62 communities in Canada who are having their wastewater tested regularly to spot trends in COVID-19. At Tantramar council committee of the whole on Monday, town engineer Jon Eppell told council about a recent offer from NB Public Health to participate in the growing surveillance program.
“This is a COVID-19 initiative that several communities across New Brunswick have been invited to participate in,” said Eppell. “We think this is a really good thing, and that after a couple of months of data collection, Sackville would appear as one of the communities on the national COVID-19 dashboard.”
Wastewater testing involves taking samples of sewage and testing for viral loads of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. Sewage surveillance has been used as an early warning system for infection levels, because COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater even before symptoms develop in people.
The city of Moncton has participated in a testing program with Dalhousie University through much of the pandemic, and has been reporting to the national dashboard since the summer of 2022. Starting at various points in 2023, results from Bathurst, Campbellton, Fredericton, Miramichi, Saint John and Edmundston are also featured on the dashboard.
Department of Health spokesperson Sean Hatchard did not answer a question about how many new sites in New Brunswick would be added along with Sackville. Hatchard says the province has received federal funding to help develop its wastewater surveillance program, and is “hopeful that Tantramar will join the program in the new year.”… Continue
DIY air purifiers create safer community spaces as respiratory illnesses surge
As respiratory illnesses surge, some local residents are taking matters into their own hands by building do-it-yourself air purifiers.
Known as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, they require little more than a box fan, some furnace filters and duct tape. Recently, a group of volunteers gathered at Sackville Commons and Co-working to build six of the devices.
“It makes our space very safe,” said Shoshanna Wingate, a local community organizer, author and former poet laureate for the Town of Sackville.
She organized the workshop, which was led by Prof. Dave Thomas of Mount Allison University.
“It cleans COVID-19 out of the air, as well as allergens, other viruses,” she said.
Sackville Rotary donated funds to pay for materials, amounting to $700 for six boxes, she said. That about $116 per box.
On Sunday, Wingate spoke to CHMA about the devices, and how respiratory illnesses are affecting families in Sackville. Listen to the full interview:
The DIY system is named after environmental engineer Richard Corsi, who came up with the idea, and Jim Rosenthal, the head of a filter manufacturer in Texas, who first built it.
READ MORE: Step-by-step instructions on how to build an air purifier, written by Richard Corsi.
The Anglican Parishes of Sackville and Dorchester have also built and installed their own Corsi-Rosenthal boxes.
Photos on social media show a group of parishioners making eight of the air filter boxes during a workshop organized by Kandice Cann. … Continue
New Brunswick is now tracking COVID-19 at two wastewater plants, considering additional sites
The province of New Brunswick is officially on board with wastewater testing for early detection of COVID-19, but its not clear when or if the town of Sackville’s sewage system might be included in the testing regime.
In a release in late October, the province calls wastewater testing a “a crucial tool for public health authorities because it is a low-cost option to obtain non-invasive biological samples from the population.” Wastewater testing involves taking samples of sewage and testing for viral loads of COVID-19. The sewage surveillance has been used as an early warning system for infection levels, because COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater even before symptoms develop in people.
Greater Moncton has participated in a testing program with Dalhousie University through much of the pandemic, but this month’s announcement includes the Natoaganeg First Nation as well, and testing and analysis of samples will now happen in New Brunswick, at the Georges Dumont hospital lab. Results are then reported to Public Health Canada’s wastewater dashboard.
Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie says additional sites are being investigated for inclusion in the program. There is no cost to municipalities to participate, and no population size threshold, says Bowie. Places serviced by a wastewater treatment facilities (as opposed to private septic systems) are typically candidates for wastewater sampling.
CHMA reached out to the town of Sackville to find out if the town will be making an effort to join the pilot program.… Continue
Second booster eligibility opens up, Corner Drug Store asks people to register online
Anyone 18 and over can now get a second booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine in New Brunswick. The provincial government announced the expanded eligibility in a release Tuesday afternoon, saying the decision was based on current trends in the province that show “increasing risk”.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell says there are signs, “New Brunswick is at the start of a period of heightened activity of COVID-19, driven by Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.”
Tuesday’s announcement immediately set phones ringing off the hook at the Corner Drug Store in Sackville, one of the local pharmacies that offers COVID-19 vaccines.
Pharmacist Charles Beaver says the pharmacy will likely need to expand operations to accommodate the demand, and to that end will be compiling a waitlist of those interested in getting a booster shot. To get on the list, people can register at the Corner Drug Store website at thecornerdrugstore.ca. Beaver asks people not to call the Corner Drug Store to book a COVID vaccination, to help keep the shop from being overwhelmed with calls.
Over at Jean Coutu, the pharmacy just paused its vaccine program for the time being, and it’s not yet known when it might start up again. Online registration is currently disabled for COVID vaccinations at Jean Coutu, and the pharmacy is not taking bookings by phone.
Corner Drug Store pharmacist-owner Charles Beaver says anyone who had their COVID booster more than five or six months ago should be registering for a second booster.… Continue
COVID-19 is back at Dorchester Penitentiary with 7 cases this week
There are seven active cases of COVID-19 at the Dorchester Penitentiary according to Correctional Services Canada (CSC). That’s an increase of five new cases since reporting on Tuesday. The cases are all in inmates in the medium security section of the penitentiary.
In a news released CSC states, “we are closely monitoring the situation, and measures are in place to minimize spread of the virus within the institution.” CSC calls the outbreak an “evolving situation”, and says infection prevention and control measures are being used, including provision of PPE and enhanced cleaning. Staff are being provided with PPE including medical masks, respirators, and face shields, and inmates are being provided with medical masks.
CSC says vaccinations are being offered to inmates, and currently 84% of the incarcerated population have had two shots, and 57.4% have had a booster. That’s slightly above the national rate. Across Canada, about 56% of eligible people have received a booster dose.
COVID-19 testing is also being offered, with employees required to attest to a negative rapid test result.
There have been 206 positive cases to date in medium security at the prison, and 58 in minimum security.… Continue
MLA calls on New Brunswick to resume masking in schools
NOTE: This article was updated on Friday, April 29, 2022 at approximately 3:20 p.m. to include a response from the provincial Department of Health.
Sackville’s MLA says the province should reinstate masking in schools, following a recommendation from the New Brunswick Child and Youth Advocate.
The provincial government removed COVID-19 protections on March 14 – including the mask mandate in public schools – just as children returned from March Break.
That’s when the province ended its state of emergency for the second time since the global pandemic hit New Brunswick more than two years ago.
On Friday, child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock released a report calling for the government to “revert to the status quo that existed when the flawed decision” to lift the mask mandate came down, and to review the decision.
The inquiry found there was an “overreliance on following other provinces without providing evidence, projections and measurements that would justify the Public Health recommendation.”
For more on this story, CHMA spoke to Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton, the Green Party’s health and education critic.
Mitton said she’s been hearing from parents and teachers who are concerned about their health and safety since the province lifted the mask mandate. “There’s a real sense of feeling abandoned,” she said.
You can hear the full interview here:
In an email, Bruce Macfarlane, communications director for the Department of Health, provided the following statement:
“Health recognizes the importance of empowering children and families to make choices regarding when to wear a mask and accepting and supporting all children whether they wear a mask or not.… Continue
Mt A shares its final COVID update for the school year
Mount Allison has 10 self-reported active cases of COVID-19 on campus, according to the school’s weekly COVID update released Tuesday. One of the cases is in a person living on campus, and the other nine are living off campus.
This is the third week in a row that Mount Allison’s self-reported active case count has dropped. At its highest point this year, on March 15, the school had 61 active cases reported. That week saw students, staff and faculty—some working off campus—report 102 more cases. But this past week, only 8 new cases were reported, bringing the cumulative total since January 3, 2022 to 400 cases.
The university is winding down its weekly community COVID-19 updates for now. The school announced that this week’s Tuesday Touchpoint newsletter would be the last for the term. It’s not clear if the school plans to restart the weekly missive in the fall, when students are back.
The school’s current fall plans include big changes, with the planned lifting of all COVID-19 measures. That includes the lifting of vaccination requirements for students, staff and faculty, and the removal of capacity limits and one-metre distancing in classrooms. Although vaccinations will no longer be required in the fall term, the school will continue to ask students, faculty, and staff to identify their vaccination status in Mount Allison’s online platform.… Continue
COVID update: Mt A cases up to 33, more deaths and hospitalizations province-wide
There are 33 active cases of COVID-19 in the Mount Allison community, according to a weekly update released Tuesday by the university. That case count has doubled since last week, and is based on test results self-reported to the school from students, staff and faculty. 24 of the cases are located off campus, and 9 are in residence.
As of Tuesday, there have been 348 cases reported to the school since it started collecting data on January 3, 2022.
Provincial public health also released its weekly update on COVID-19 yesterday, showing an increase in hospitalizations for the second week in a row. There are now 13 more people in hospital, bringing the total to 142. The number of people on a ventilator has dropped by half, to 8.
Thirteen more people have died from COVID-19 in New Brunswick, bringing the total deaths to 349.
There were just over 3000 new cases identified in the past week with PCR lab testing, and another roughly 4500 identified with take home rapid test kits, but the province is warning that those results are less reliable than lab testing.
On the vaccination front, there were just over 2400 shots of a COVID-19 vaccine administered in the whole province in the past week. 227 were first shots, 685 were second shots, and 1529 were boosters. … Continue
Petition calls for indoor masking in NB schools until end of April, local residents divided
Children returned from March Break across New Brunswick on Monday just as the provincial government lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions.
An online petition is calling for the province to maintain universal indoor masking in schools until at least the end of April.
“Removing universal masking protection in schools will negatively impact any member of the school community who is at risk, which is counter to the principles of inclusion in New Brunswick schools,” the petition states.
“It puts families in the position of needing to remove children from school to protect their vulnerable family members.”
The petition had garnered more than 1,300 virtual signatures by Thursday.
For more on this story, CHMA spoke to Kathleen Gadd, one of the authors of the petition. She’s a Mount Allison University graduate, and a mother of three young children living in Miramichi.
“The school day represents a long exposure, if you happen to have somebody in the class who is contagious with COVID during the school day,” she said. “So the school, I think, is an important setting.”
CHMA reached out to local parents via social media, and they expressed conflicting views on the topic via Facebook.
“I worry that cases in schools are not being reported, and I also worry about the amount of kids who will be sent to school sick, because a parent cannot afford to take time off work,” said Danielle Pellerin, who has children in Grade 1 and Grade 5.… Continue
Omicron strains health-care system, workers face exhaustion, say unions
Nearly 200 COVID-positive health-care workers in the Horizon Health Network were isolating by Friday, according to the regional health authority.
It’s unclear how many workers at Sackville Memorial Hospital are affected, but that figure included 41 health-care staff in the health region overall.
CHMA reached out to officials from unions representing health-care workers to learn how the rapid spread of COVID-19 is affecting their members and hospital operations.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents approximately 140 job classifications in the health-care system.
Examples include pandemic screeners, security guards, clerical staff, patient care attendants, maintenance workers, housekeeping and dietary staff.
Norma Robinson, president of the New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions, CUPE Local 1252, said efforts are underway to procure personal protective equipment to safeguard workers from the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The self-isolation of infected workers is putting further strain on the health-care system, but there was no indication the issue was particularly severe at the Sackville hospital by Friday, she said.
Patients may encounter delays, and she asked the public for patience. “It might take a little bit longer, but we’re there to serve, and we’re trying to keep everybody healthy and safe,” she said.
Alana Best, a nursing unit clerk and CUPE union president at the Sackville hospital, said COVID-19 was more nerve-wracking earlier in the pandemic, but the situation remains difficult.… Continue