New Brunswick’s COVID-19 cases surged over the weekend, with 122 new cases reported and five more people admitted to hospital since Friday. Premier Blaine Higgs, Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Russell, and Education Minister Dominic Cardy held a briefing Monday afternoon to share the worrisome numbers.
The surge has prompted new rules for schools province-wide. As of Tuesday September 14, students of all ages must wear a mask in school and while on school buses. Masks may be removed when students are eating, drinking or engaged in sports or physical education classes, says the province.
The new measures will be reassessed in the last week of September.
As of Monday, there are 229 active cases in the province, with eleven people in hospital, and nine of those in an ICU.
In Zone 1, there are 71 active cases. 36 new Zone 1 cases were reported over the weekend, in ages ranging from under 19 to those in their 70’s. Due to the incubation period of the disease, it’s estimated that current cases originated over the Labour Day weekend.
Three schools in Zone 1 have confirmed cases of COVID-19. West Riverview Elementary, Riverview High, and Moncton High all have positive cases, said Cardy. Transmission of those infections happened before school started, and so public health says it has yet to see transmission from student to student within a school setting.
The province refuses to share the number of cases in children under the age of 12, who are not eligible for vaccination, citing privacy concerns. On Monday, Russell indicated she may be able to provide the number, but has yet to do so.
Public health also refuses to share the vaccination status of people in hospital, citing privacy concerns, even though thousands of people in the province are both vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Russell said the cases in Zone 1 were predominantly the alpha variant, formerly known as the UK variant. But the cases in the rest of the province are predominantly the more contagious delta variant, she said. There is a lag in testing, which means the variant at work in the most recent cases is not necessarily known.
Of all the 1058 variant cases so far in New Brunswick, Russell said 577 were the alpha variant, 372 were delta, 87 were beta, and 22 were gamma variant.
Russell said the 4th wave of COVID-19 in New Brunswick is different from previous waves in that it is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
“Adults who are unvaccinated are catching the virus and passing it along to others,” said Russell, though she added that she is “not casting blame on anyone.”
“We have the means to bring the surge under control,” said Russell. “We have safe, effective vaccines.”
Premier Higgs said that “everything is on the table” in terms of the response to the current surge. He said it was too soon to bring back the mandatory order, but mentioned the possibility of a vaccine passport system such as is in place in Quebec, and was recently announced for October in Nova Scotia. He also mentioned bringing back the requirement for registration for travel into New Brunswick again.
Higgs said he has yet to meet with his Atlantic counterparts to share New Brunswick’s current numbers, but will likely do so after a cabinet meeting Monday night.
