New Brunswick reported 24 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Five of those cases were reported in the southeast region.
Testing numbers continue to climb, with 1222 results reported Thursday, and 396 of those in the southeast region.
There are now 130 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Nearly as many (128) cases are listed as under investigation on the province’s COVID-19 dashboard.
836 people are under self-isolation orders, due to a diagnosis or being close contacts of a diagnosed case.
“Our situation is grim,” said Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell Thursday. “But that’s a relative term when you look at what’s happening in other provinces. However, we do expect things to get worse here before they get better.”
“The infections that we have seen as a result of gatherings over the last days of 2020 are still emerging,” said Russell. “You can expect that we will see more new cases and more hospitalizations in the days ahead.”
TWO OUTBREAKS IN ZONE 1 RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES
Russell announced two outbreaks in adult residential facilities in Zone 1. There are now outbreaks at Fundy Manor II, a 28-bed special care home in Hillsborough, and at Parkland Riverview’s Canterbury Hall, a 60-bed special care home in Riverview.
Provincial Rapid Outbreak Management Teams are conducting further testing of the facilities’ residents and staff Thursday.
ONE SCHOOL CASE IN MONCTON
On Wednesday, a positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed at Bessborough School in Moncton. The school was closed for an operational day on Thursday, to allow public health to complete contact tracing, according to a letter from Anglophone East superintendent Pamela Wilson.
ASYMPTOMATIC TRANSMISSION IS DRIVING CASES
“The transmission we’re seeing right now is some of the asymptomatic transmission from people who only found out they were infectious after they were diagnosed with COVID-19,” said Russell on Thursday. “So that’s why it’s really important for people to be very aware of where they’ve been.”
“If you have symptoms, get tested right away,” said Russell. “And stay home if you’re not feeling well. Don’t go to work, don’t go to school, don’t go to any gatherings. Don’t take this all for granted at this moment in time.”
VACCINATION UPDATE
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard spoke at Thursday’s COVID briefing and gave an update on the vaccination rollout in the province.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Shephard. “As of this morning, 5019 people in New Brunswick have received the first dose of vaccine. By the end of this week, we will have administered more than 7500 doses. The 1871 people who received their first dose of vaccine at a clinic in Mirimachi in December will be the first to receive their second dose this coming weekend and be fully inoculated.”
COVID ALERT APP
Both Russell and Shephard urged New Brusnwickers to download and use the COVID-19 app on Thursday.
Russell said that the Regional Medical Officer of Health in the Moncton region. Dr. Yves Léger told her they are finding very few people have downloaded the app.
“And it would help them tremendously,” said Russell. “This is such an important step right now. I urge everyone who can to download the COVID-19 alert app immediately.”
“Apple has recently made changes that allow the app to be used on older models of smartphones,” said Russell, “which makes this more accessible for many New Brunswickers.”
According to data published by the Ontario government, the COVID Alert app has been downloaded 5.9 million times in Canada. Over 8700 people in Ontario have used the app to upload a positive diagnosis, which then caused the app to alert all other app users they had come into close contact with during the previous two weeks.
