New Brunswick has 16 new cases of COVID-19.
Two of those cases are in Zone 1 (Moncton region), one of which is under investigation. There are still 24 active cases in Zone 1, since there was an equal amount of recoveries since Wednesday.
The other cases are in Zones 2, 3, 4, and 6, the majority of which in Zone 3 (Fredericton region).
The province has 127 active cases of COVID-19, 17 of which are isolating out-of-province.
Ten New Brunswickers are in the hospital due to COVID-19, including four in other provinces. Two patients require intensive care.
The six cases in the Fredericton region includes three under investigation, and Dr. Russell confirmed in a live provincial COVID-19 update that the outbreak in Fredericton is an outbreak of the B1617 variant first identified in India.
Dr. Russell says she is concerned about Zone 3, but is also concerned about the cases developing in Zone 1.
“In Zone 1, the UK variant is circulating,” says Dr. Russell. “The risks will remain high as long as the proximity to Nova Scotia, in terms of their high case numbers, remain. There’s unlinked chains… we didn’t find a link to travel yet.”
She says the only good news is that the Moncton region has strong testing numbers, and she hopes it will stay that way.
The source of the Zone 1 outbreaks remain a mystery, but several workplaces have been impacted.
“We had three different workplace settings that were impacted,” explains Dr. Russell. “The continued ongoing transmission from those particular cases is being stopped by self isolation, etc. However, the fact that we don’t know where the those cases came from, that’s what remains problematic.”
Dr. Russell clarified that two cases in New Brunswick have been traced back to the ongoing outbreak in Nova Scotia, and that the Atlantic Chief Medical Officers of Health conference call at least once a week to share relevant data.
In vaccine news, New Brunswickers in their thirties are now eligible for a shot at either a pharmacy or a regional health authority clinic.
New Brunswick is just shy of vaccinating 38% of the total population, or nearly 300,000 people, with their first shot.
However, AstraZeneca will no longer be administered to New Brunswickers as a first dose.
This news comes along with the announcement that two more New Brunswickers developed the rare blood clotting side effect Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT).
Both people were in their 50s, and received their dose mid-April.
In one patient, symptoms developed 11 days after the dose, and the other 19 days after.
One person has already recovered, while the other is recovering in the hospital.
Dr. Russell says that the global frequency of VITT remains low and has been estimated at about one case in 55,000 to one case in 100,000 doses of vaccine.
Still, based on advice from Public Health, New Brunswick will only be administering AstraZeneca as either a second dose to those who have already received it, or as a first dose to any consenting housebound extramural patients who understand the risks.
Dr. Russell says that studies are underway to determine if “mixing and matching” vaccines is possible when it comes to AstraZeneca.
