New Brunswick removes COVID-19 'highlights' from weekly updates
CBC
New Brunswick has changed the way it provides weekly COVID-19 updates.
Tuesday's COVIDWatch report did not include the "highlights" feature, which used to provide some of the key data at a glance.
That information included, for example, the number of new COVID deaths and the pandemic death toll to date.
It also included the current number of people hospitalized and in intensive care because of the virus and how that compared to the previous week, as well as the number of new COVID cases confirmed in the past week through PCR lab tests and self-reported by people who tested positive on rapid tests.
The dashboard, which used to appear on the main COVIDWatch landing page, also included circular graphs showing the breakdown of COVID deaths, hospitalizations and ICU admissions by vaccination status.
Now, people must wade through a dense, eight-page report to retrieve this data.
The highlights for last week's report have also been removed from the website.
Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie said the website was updated "as part of an effort to move to routine disease reporting practices."
"As part of this update, changes have been made to the graphics and layout," he said in an emailed statement.
The highlights graphic was "used as a transition from the daily [COVID-19] dashboard to weekly COVIDWATCH reporting," Bowie said.
"It's important to note the department has not changed the information being reported. All of the information continues to be collected and publicly reported in the Full Report PDF document."
As of Tuesday's update, which covers July 17 to July 23, the percentage of COVID deaths since Dec. 5, 2021, that were people who were "fully protected" stood at 55.9 per cent .
The province defines fully protected as boosted or fully vaccinated less than six months.
A smaller percentage — 44.1 per cent — had partial or no protection, meaning they were fully vaccinated more than six months, partially vaccinated or "undervaccinated."
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