At the beginning of a “tidal wave” of Omicron, Public Health asks people to reduce contacts without additional restrictions
The news was dire in a technical briefing yesterday from New Brusnwick’s department of health.
Mathieu Chalifoux, lead COVID-19 epidemiologist with Public Health, presented projections for case counts and hospitalizations into the next two months, showing a steep curve peaking at the end of January or beginning of February.
Chalifoux said over 5000 New Brunswickers can be expected to develop the disease daily by the end of the month. ”Over a five day period, this would be about 25,000 individuals, assuming 2.3 individuals per household. This could mean over 7% or approximately 55,000 people isolating at any given moment,” the epidemiologist warned.
Unlike the last projections presented by the province, these account for the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant which is now dominant in the province, but there have been some changes since the projections were created. In early January, the province started to limit eligibility for testing. Those limits could mean official PCR numbers come in lower than the stated projections, unless results from rapid tests are included.
The province has started to report the results from rapid tests that are being voluntarily submitted by those who test positive with the take-home test kits. On Tuesday, there were 191 new positive PCR cases announced, along with 842 new positive rapid test results.
Chalifoux acknowledged that case counts based on PCR testing are underreported, but increasingly the more important metric is the number of people that will need to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19.… Continue
Wednesday on TR: Mitton’s call for more measures; false hospital rumours and surveillance cameras in Sackville; dire projections for Omicron wave in NB
On today’s Tantramar Report:
We recap the dire projections shared by New Brunswick public health epidemiologist Mathieu Chalifoux at a briefing on Tuesday, and the explanation from medical officer of health Jennifer Russell on why the province will not yet be moving to level 3 of its winter plan.
We bring you some highlights from Monday’s Sackville town council meeting, including words of caution from Mayor Shawn Mesheau about rumours of an imminent closure of the Sackville hospital, and plans to upgrade town facilities with facial recognition cameras.
We hear from some local parents as classes resume for another two weeks of online schooling for their kids.
We also hear from Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton about why she thinks New Brunswick should be upping public health restrictions as case counts skyrocket.
And last but not least, with extremely cold temperatures hitting New Brunswick on Tuesday, NB Power asked residents to reduce their energy consumption at peak hours. The utility says that during periods of peak energy demand, it uses its “most expensive and least green energy to power New Brunswick.” Peak demand generally happens between 6am and 9am and between 4pm and 8pm.
To help avoid using peak energy, NB Power recommends residents turn down the heat in rooms they’re not using, take shorter showers or move them to later in the day.… Continue