Weekly COVID-19 deaths jump to 15, hospitalizations decrease

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 15 more New Brunswickers in the past week and the province reports hospitalizations because of the virus dropped by six, to 81, including 10 people in intensive care.

According to the two health authorities, there are 123 people with COVID-19 being treated in hospital, 13 of whom require intensive care. That's down from 168 and 19 respectively last Tuesday.

The province's weekly COVIDWatch report includes only people hospitalized for COVID, whereas Horizon and Vitalité also include people who were initially admitted to hospital for another reason and later tested positive for the virus.

The new deaths represent a significant jump from last week, when six deaths were reported.

The latest deaths include one person in their 60s, four in their 70s, four in their 80s, and six in their 90s, a comparison of this week's report to last week's reveals.

Four of them lived in the Moncton region, Zone 1, three in the Saint John region, Zone 2, three in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, four in the Edmundston region, Zone 4, and one in the Bathurst region, Zone 6.

Their deaths raise the pandemic death toll to 399. More than 20 per cent of those — 82 — have occurred in the seven weeks since the province lifted all COVID-19 restrictions.

"Individuals that are unprotected by vaccine continue to have the highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 and death," the province's website states.

The highest portion of hospitalizations for COVID-19 is among individuals aged 60 to 79, it says.

A child under 10 and another aged 10 to 19 are among those admitted to hospital for COVID-19 during the reporting period of April 24 to April 30, the website shows.

New hospital admissions for COVID, including ICU admissions, decreased this week to 64, compared to 74 last week.

The others include two people in their 20s, two in their 30s, two in their 40s, four in their 50s, six in their 60s, 21 in their 70s, 14 in their 80s, and 11 in their 90s.

Among the seven people admitted to intensive care, two are in their 40s, one in their 60s, three in their 70s, and one in their 80s.

Of the 127 COVID-related hospitalizations reported by the regional health authorities, Horizon has 86 of them, as of Saturday, down from 106 in last week's report, its dashboard shows. Nine of those patients are in intensive care, down from 15.