N.B. COVID-19 roundup: Province to provide update after single-day record high of new cases
CBC
The province will provide an update on COVID-19 today, after reporting a single-day record high of 174 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and two more COVID-related deaths.
A media advisory says the province will remain at Level 1 of the COVID-19 winter plan at this time, "as hospitalizations remain manageable and the majority of schools are operating normally."
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard and Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, will participate in the 2:30 p.m. news conference.
It will be livestreamed here on CBC New Brunswick's website and on the government's YouTube channel in English and in French.
The majority of recent cases of COVID-19 have been among youth under 19, particularly in the Fredericton region, Zone 3.
"Nobody's comfortable with high numbers of cases, but certainly if they don't translate into the same number of hospitalizations in terms of the pressure on our health-care system then we can tolerate those numbers," Russell told CBC's Information Morning Fredericton on Friday.
Russell and Shephard both said the government is trying to keep schools open because children are better off that way. But options, such as extending Christmas break, are being considered, in conjunction with the Department of Education.
Youth will have more protection as vaccination rates increase, Russell noted. Twenty-two per cent of children under 12 have now had their first dose, she said.
Shephard is reluctant to impose stricter rules.
"We've seen in Moncton that the last circuit breaker didn't have barely any effect. So we need for people in New Brunswick to take their power back."
She continues to focus on appealing to New Brunswickers to take individual responsibility by avoiding crowds, washing their hands and getting vaccinated.
The next level of Public Health measures will only be considered if there's a positivity rate of 10 per cent across the province or in one zone, if 70 people are hospitalized or 34 people are in intensive care, and if Public Health resources are unable to contact cases or sites of exposure within a "reasonable" time frame, Russell has said.
Forty people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 16 in intensive care. Eight of them are on ventilators.
There are 892 active cases across the province.
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