New Brunswick has revamped the way it reports on COVID-19 again, including the launch of a new Respiratory Watch report that combines updates on both COVID-19 and influenza, and new definitions of COVID deaths and hospitalizations.
“With the arrival of the new respiratory illness season, it makes sense to monitor both of these diseases together so that New Brunswickers can be informed of the impacts these diseases are having on the health of the population,” Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, said in a statement.
The new format reflects similar reporting approaches in other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, Russell said.
A COVID death is now defined as “a confirmed case who was admitted to hospital and whose death occurred during their stay.”
“A death due to COVID-19 or influenza does not mean that it was necessarily the primary or contributing factor to the cause of death,” Health Department spokesperson Sean Hatchard said in an emailed statement. “Therefore, only deaths that occur in hospital will be reported.”
Only COVID-19 deaths that occur in hospital will be reported now, the province announced Tuesday. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Since March 2022, Public Health has been reporting COVID deaths as those where the virus was either the primary cause of death or a directly contributing factor.
Previously, the province used the national surveillance case definition for a deceased COVID-19 case: a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case whose death resulted from a clinically compatible illness, unless a clear alternative cause of death is identified, such as trauma, poisoning, or drug overdose.
Deaths that occur outside hospital are subject to a reporting lag that can last months, said Hatchard, while in-hospital deaths are “a more timely indicator for disease severity.”
The pandemic death toll of 935 has also been dropped and replaced with a respiratory season total of zero.
Back to counting hospitalized ‘for’ and ‘with’ COVID
COVID hospitalizations, meanwhile, now include patients who have been hospitalized both for and with COVID-19, rather than only those who have been hospitalized because of complications from the disease.
“The department recognizes that both types of patients have an impact on the system,” said Hatchard.
While COVIDWatch provided only three age categories for deaths, with the youngest being under 50, Respiratory Watch includes five age categories — under four, five to 19, 20 to 44, 45 to 64, and 65 and older.
Forty-four people were hospitalized for or with COVID-19 during the latest reporting week, including one person who required intensive care, up from the 24 admitted to hospital because of the virus in the previous report.
One person was aged 20 to 44, three were 45 to 64 and the other 40 were 65 or older, including the one in ICU.
250% jump in hospitalizations at Horizon
Horizon Health Network, meanwhile, has seen a 250 per cent jump in the number of people it has hospitalized for or with COVID-19 in the past two weeks, its updated COVID-19 dashboard shows.
It has 42 active COVID-19 hospitalizations, as of Sept. 9, up from 12 on Aug. 26. Two people are in intensive care, up from one.
Vitalité has not updated its COVID website. Although the province and Horizon have both switched to bimonthly reports, as of Tuesday, it plans to continue with monthly updates “for the time being,” an unidentified spokesperson told CBC.
Horizon also reported COVID outbreaks on six hospital units, up from none, and 21 health-care workers off the job because they tested positive for the virus, up from 11.
A total of 95 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID have been reported across New Brunswick, an increase from the previous report week.
The positivity rate also increased, to 14 per cent, and eight lab-confirmed outbreaks were declared.
COVID activity is described as “moderate.”
No influenza activity has been recorded yet this respiratory season, which began Aug. 27.
Vaccination rate changes
As for vaccination data, the department will focus on how many people have received a vaccine for COVID-19 or influenza within the current respiratory illness season.
This is “in order to portray the level of protection in the community,” Hatchard said.
The statistics aren’t available on the Respiratory Watch page yet, but 31,113 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered between March 12 and Sept. 11, according to Hatchard. He did not provide the total eligible population.
Health Canada has approved Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine for all Canadians who are six months of age or older, but no information about when the shots will be available in New Brunswick has been released. (Kristopher Radder/The Associated Press)
Health Canada said Canadians age five and up should receive one dose. Children from six months to four years old should receive two doses if they have never had a COVID vaccine, or one dose if they’ve had at least one dose.
Public Health will be offering eligible New Brunswickers vaccines for COVID-19 and influenza this fall, said Russell. She could not provide details.
“In the meantime, Public Health recommends that patients speak with their health-care provider to determine the level of risk they may face if they choose to wait for the new vaccination formulation to arrive,” Russell said.
As it stands, the only New Brunswickers eligible since July 1 have been those aged 65 and older or those 18 and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised, who did not receive a spring booster and whose last shot or infection was at least five months ago, and new residents of long-term care facilities aged 18 and older who did not receive a spring booster and whose last shot and/or infection was at least five months ago.
Health Canada is still reviewing updated vaccines from other companies, including Pfizer-BioNTech’s Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine for Canadians aged six months and older and Novavax’s shot for people aged 12 and older.
Nursing home outbreaks
Lab-confirmed COVID outbreaks were reported at two unidentified nursing homes in the province Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, while six outbreaks were reported in “other” vulnerable settings, the report shows. No other details are provided.
An outbreak is defined as two or more positive cases among residents or staff with an epidemiological link within 10 days.
Info on positive rapid tests and sequencing dropped
Submitted positive rapid test results will not be posted on the Respiratory Watch page.
“Now that the COVID-19 state of emergency has ended the department feels regular reporting of this information is no longer required,” said Hatchard.
In addition, the province is no longer including sequencing breakdowns for COVID-19.
Public Health will only confirm the presence or non-presence of a subvariant upon request, said Hatchard.
“It should be noted, however, that if the situation was to change, and a new subvariant was to emerge and pose more severe health risks to New Brunswickers, Public Health would inform the population as needed,” he said.
On Monday, Hatchard confirmed the highly mutated new Omicron variant BA.2.86 has not been detected in the province. “Nearly all circulating strains are of the XBB family,” he said.
The first Canadian case of BA.2.86, which has health experts watching closely� because of its high number of mutations, was recently confirmed in British Columbia. So far, it does not appear to be more severe.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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