N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 10 new cases, outbreaks in Fredericton linked

New Brunswick has 10 new cases of COVID-19, and Public Health has confirmed a connection between the outbreaks in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, the chief medical officer of health announced Thursday.

Two of the new cases are inthe Fredericton region, where Public Health confirmed Monday the province's first case of thevariant first recorded in India.

There are now 10 positive cases linkedto the outbreak declared Monday at the University of New Brunswick'sMagee House residence, which involves the variant, Dr. Jennifer Russell said during the live COVID briefing.

She confirmed a connection between the UNBoutbreak and the positive case confirmed Monday at George Street Middle Schoolinwhich900 students, staff and their familiesareisolating.

"This outbreak really does illustrate what it is that we're up against," Russellsaid.

"These variants are much, much, much more contagious than any of the strains that we saw before."

Thecoronavirus can also spread very quickly through casual contact and be in a person's system for several days without symptoms, she said.

"So that's why sometimes if we test too early, we won't find it."

Health officials have rampedup testing in Zone 3 at the two testinglocations in Fredericton and with a pop-up clinic at theNackawic Shopping Mall parking lot.About 635 tests were conducted on Thursdayalone, Russell said.

The pop-up clinic is offering testing to anyone who wasat the Canada Post in Nackawic, at135 Otis Dr., during a possible public exposure to COVID-19 betweenApril 19 and 22, even if they don't have symptoms.

The outdoor, drive-thru clinic continues by appointment Friday from noon until 5 p.m. ATand Saturday, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.People whobooka test onlineshould select "Hartland" as their preferred site and when they're contacted to make an appointment, they should indicate they wish to be tested at the temporary site in Nackawic. People can also request a test by phoning Tele-Care 811.

Residents, family members and staff of UNB's Magee House were retested on Wednesday. The apartment-style residencehas 101units for mature students, some of whom may have school-agechildren.

I understand that this is creating a lot of hardships for many families in the Frederictonarea, but these measures are necessary to slow the spread.- Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health

So far, it appearsthere hasn't been any apartment-to-apartment transmission since the residence was locked down, said Russell, but the next round of resultswill be "very, very telling." The resultswill also help officials "nail down" whether there has been any aerosolized, or airborne, spread through the ventilation system, she said.

Earlier this week, Russell told reportersPublic Health had recommended UNB make some "minor changes" to the ventilation system of Magee House, which opened in 1970,"to make sure that there is no problems in terms of contamination of the airflow."

All tests at UNB'sElizabeth Parr-Johnston residence have come back negative so far.

Thisbuilding, which hastwoor three single bedrooms per suite, each witha shared washroom, kitchen and living area, can house up to 169 people, according to the university's website.

Residentsof both buildingsremain in isolation, Russell said.

The lockdown at the University of New Brunswick campus has been extendeduntil 11:59 p.m. Sunday.St. Thomas University and New Brunswick Community Collegecampusesare also under lockdown until next weekbecause of their proximity to UNB and the potential for exposure.

At George Street Middle School, Public Health has conducted rapid tests on the 75 people identified as close contacts of the positive case, said Russell.

While all of them have tested negative so far, they have been directed to self-isolate for 14 days from their contact point and will be retested Saturday, which will be the 10thday of isolation, she said.

The school will remain closed for the rest of this week and mandatory retesting of some students and staff will take place on the weekend.

Public Health is treating the case identified at the school Monday as the variant first reported in India, according to an email sent to parents and staff Wednesday.

If all testing is negative, all other students and staff will be permitted to return to school on Monday, and their family members will no longer be required to self-isolate.

"I understand that this is creating a lot of hardships for many families in the Frederictonarea, but these measures are necessary to slow the spread of the outbreak," Russell said.

Education Minister Dominic Cardysaiddistrict staff are working on contingency plans "for every scenario" at George Street Middle School.

"But at this point, families should prepare for a return to learning, whether distanceor in-person, as early as the coming Monday," he said.

Meanwhile, "asmall group" of people from Fredericton High School may have been exposed to COVID-19 "from a source outside of thatschool," Cardy reiterated Thursday at the briefing.

Thoseindividualsare self-isolating and being tested, Cardysaid. "At this point, FHSremains open with no cause for concern."

"No news continues to be the best sort of news. If you don't hear from Public Health, if you don't hear from the school, you can continue as normal."

Some extra vaccines will be diverted to the Fredericton region to help get the outbreak under control, said Russell. She could not immediately say how many.

118 active cases

There are now 118 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

Four people are in hospital, including two in intensive care.

The breakdown of the new cases are as follows:

Moncton region, Zone 1: two cases:

• A person 19 or under.
• A person50-59.

One case is a contact of a previously confirmed case and the other is under investigation.

Saint John region, Zone 2: two cases:

• A person 19 orunder.
• A person60-69.

Both cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

Fredericton region, Zone 3: two cases:

• A person 19 or under.
• A person 40-49.

Both cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

Edmundston region, Zone 4: three cases:

• Two people 30-39.

• A person 50-59.

All three cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

Bathurst region, Zone 6: one case

This case is travel-related.

New Brunswick has had 1,900 confirmed cases ofCOVID-19, with 1,745recoveries and 36 COVID-related deaths.

A total of 288,141 tests have been conducted, including1,443 on Wednesday.

Proms possible

Cardy is hopeful New Brunswick will be able to have limited grad ceremonies andproms this year.

"But we can only have that if all of us do our part to wrap our arms around that graduating class of 2021," he said during Thursday's COVID-19 briefing.

Cardy urged everyone to continue to follow Public Health measures, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask and handwashing, to protect themselves and others.

He noted the situation can change quickly, pointing tothe outbreak in neighbouring Nova Scotia over the past week, and asked everyone to remain vigilant.

Vaccine update

New Brunswick has run out ofAstraZeneca-Oxford vaccinesand isn'texpecting to receive a new shipment until late May, said the chief medical officer of health.

While the province waits for its stock to be replenished, it will reviewrecently revised guidance from theNational Advisory Committee on Immunization(NACI) about using the vaccine on people over the age of 30, said Russell.

Right now, the province's protocol is to use AstraZeneca only on people 55 and older, which is based on NACI's previous recommendations.

New Brunswick is expected to receive thousands of Johnson & Johnson vaccines by Friday.

Asked whetherthis one-dose vaccine will be allocated to a specific group for whom a second-dose delay poses greater risk, Russell said a vaccine task force is still considering whichpopulations would be better served by this vaccine.

Russell said she's"greatly encouraged" to see how many New Brunswickers are getting vaccinated. More than 231,00, or nearly 35 per cent of all New Brunswick adults, have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Getting vaccinated will help slow the spread of the virus and has been demonstrated to lessen the incidence of severe illness, hospitalization and death for those who do contract the virus," she said.

Although New Brunswick is taking longer than other provinces to get to younger age groups, Russell noted its population is older.

The province is still on target to have first doses to everybody who's eligible by the end of June, and second doses by the beginning of September, she told reporters during Thursday's COVID briefing.

"We're on that trajectory for sure," she said. "We definitely are getting a huge supply, a steady supply in the next month to three months."

Lowest testing per capita

New Brunswick has the lowest per capitatestingrate for COVID-19 across Canada, according to Public Health Agency of Canada figures.

But the chief medical officer of health contends comparing provinces based on per capita metrics doesn't give a"good sense of of what's happening because the testing has to also be based on what's happening in theepidemiological vein et cetera are you testing the right people at the right time for the right reason with the right test?"

New Brunswick focuses on positivity rates "first and foremost," said Russell. "Are we catching all the cases that we need to catch?"

The provincial lab at theDr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton sticks todiagnostic testing, which is PCR based. Thatis the gold standard for people who are symptomatic, she said.

The lab has the capacity to test about 3,000 samples per day, Russell said.

City closes Fredericton skate park

The City of Fredericton has closed its downtown skate park forfive days because people haven't been following COVID-19 restrictions.

The all-wheel sports plaza opened in December and has been drawinglarge crowds to the St. Anne's Point Drive area.

David Seabrook, director of recreation, tourism and community engagement for the city, said many park usersare not physically distancing or wearing masks when they're not skating.

"We need people to adhere to the province's COVID-19 regulations so we decided to close it for a five-day period, effectively to send a message and reset the clock and get everyone to recognize these regulations are not options," he said.

The park closed on Wednesday and will reopen again Monday.

The city's parks and trees department hasinstalled a temporary fence around the park.

Seabrook said the city hasreminded park users about physical distancing and the use of masks over social media. Staff were also going on site to distribute masks and remind people of the COVID-19 protocols. Seabrook said city officials also spoke directly with people in the skateboard community.

"While that all had some limited impact, we were still seeing quite a bit of ... particularly young people gathering in groups without masks and without social distancing," he said.

"We felt it was time to bring the situation under control."

As the weather gets warmer, Seabrook expects crowds to get even larger.

He said an experienced skateboard supervisor will be on site to enforce COVID-19 regulations and showing people how to use the park.

That person will be there on evenings and weekends to restrict access if more than 50 people are showing up at the skate park.

Seabrook said he's hopeful the recent closure will send a message to skate park users early on in the season.

Outbreak over at special care home in Edmundston

Public Health has declared the COVID-19 outbreak officially over at Foyer St-Jacques, a special care home in the Edmundston region, Zone 4, Russell said Thursday.

The outbreak was declared on April 1, following a confirmedcase of COVID-19 at the home.

Residents and staffwere retested several times to confirm the end of the outbreak.

New exposure notifications

Public Health has identified the sites, dates and times of new possible public exposures. People who were at these sitesare eligible to be tested forCOVID-19, even if they are not experiencing symptoms.

Fredericton:

• HomeSense, 18 Trinity Dr., onApril 22,between 1 and 6 p.m. and April 23,between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Grand Falls:

• Hill Top Motel & Restaurant, 131 Madawaska Rd. betweenApril 22andApril 26.
• Atlantic Superstore, 240 Madawaska Rd. onApril 24,between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. and onApril 26 between10:30 and 11 a.m.
• Toner Home Hardware, 445 Broadway Blvd. onApril 25,between 3:30 and 4 p.m. and onApril 26, between10 and 10:30 a.m.
• Merritt Press, 208 Main St. onApril 26,between 9:45 and 10 a.m.
• Blue's Printing Shop, 182 Portage St. onApril 26, between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m.
• St-Onge Industrial Supplies, Belanger St. onApril 26, between noon and 12:15 p.m.
• Canadian Tire, 383 Madawaska Rd. onApril 26,between 11 and 11:30 a.m.
• Foodland Grand Falls, 535 Everard H. Daigle onApril 26,between 10:30and 11 a.m.
• Walmart, 494 Madawaska Rd. onApril 26, between 3and 7:15 p.m. and onApril 27,between 8:30and 11 a.m.
• Grand Falls General Hospital onApril 27, between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
• Irving Big Stop, 121 Route 255, onApril 28, between 5 and 5:15 a.m.

Edmundston:

• Grey Rock Hotel, 110 Chief Joanna Blvd. betweenApril 14 and April 15.

Other possible public exposures

Public Health has identified the sites, dates and times of possible public exposure in four regions. People who were at these sitesare eligible to be tested forCOVID-19, even if they are not experiencing symptoms.

Fredericton region:

• April 24 between 10 a.m. and noon - YMCA (570 York St., Fredericton)
• April 23between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. -Save Easy Independent Grocer(135 Otis Dr., Nackawic)
• April 23 -Canada Post(135 Otis Dr., Nackawic)
• April 22 and April 23 -Jolly Farmer(56 Crabbe Rd., Northampton)
• April 23 between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - Walmart Supercentre (1399 Regent St, Fredericton)
• April 23 between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - Princess Auto (21 Trinity Ave., Fredericton)
• April 23 between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - Home Depot (Corbett Centre, Fredericton)
• April 23 between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - Swiss Chalet (961 Prospect Ave., Fredericton)
• April 22 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. - Canadian Tire (1110 Smythe Ave., Fredericton)
• April 22 between 10 a.m. and noon. - Digital World (524 Smythe Ave., Fredericton)
• April 22 between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. - Tim Horton's (1713 Woodstock Rd., Fredericton)
• April 22 between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. - Costco (25 Wayne Squibb Blvd., Fredericton)
• April 19 to April 22 - Canada Post (135 Otis Dr., Nackawic)
• April 21 between noon and 4 p.m. Shoppers Drug Mart(1040 Prospect St., Fredericton)

Monctonregion:

• April 12between 5:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. emergency department Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University HospitalCentre (330 Universit Ave., Moncton)
• April 12between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. X-ray department Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University HospitalCentre (330 Universit Ave., Moncton)
• April 14between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Urban Planet, Walmart and H&M CF Champlain (477 Paul St., Dieppe)

Saint John region:

• Holy Spirit Parish(Saint Matthews worship site), 45 Dollard Dr., Saint John, onSunday, April 18, between 11 a.m. and noon. The church has closed for two weeks as a preventive measure, andSt. Rose of Lima Church(part of Holy Spirit Parish) will also beclosed for the next two weeks, until May 8-9.

• Service New Brunswick, 15 King Square North, onApril 15between 3 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.

• Rocky's Sports Bar, 7 Market Square,onApril 15between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Edmundston region:

• E.& P.SnchalCenter,VitalitHealth Network vaccination clinic, 60OuelletteSt.,Grand Falls, onMonday, April 19, between 1:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. .m.; and onApril 12,between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Public Health also identifiedtravellers who may have been infected while on the following flights:

• April 20- Air Canada Flight 318 from Calgary to Montreal, departed at 11:45 a.m.
• April 20- Air Canada Flight 8906 from Montreal to Moncton, departed at 7:01 p.m.
• April 15- Air Canada Flight 8919 from Toronto to Moncton, departed at 8:56 p.m.
• April 15 Air Canada Flight 8906 from Montreal to Moncton, departed at 7:08 p.m.
• April 15 Air Canada Flight 318 from Calgary to Montreal departed at 11:53 a.m.
• April 14- Air Canada Flight 8970 from Ottawa to Montreal, departed at 6:28 a.m.
• April 14-Air Canada Flight 8898 from Montreal to Moncton, departed at 8:14 a.m.

What to do if you have a symptom

People concerned they might haveCOVID-19 symptoms cantake a self-assessment test online.

Public Health says symptoms shown by people withCOVID-19 have included:

• Fever above 38 C.

• New cough or worsening chronic cough.

• Sore throat.

• Runny nose.

• Headache.

• New onset of fatigue, muscle pain, diarrhea, loss of sense of taste or smell.

• Difficulty breathing.

In children, symptoms have also included purple markings on the fingers and toes.

People with one of those symptoms should:

• Stay at home.

• CallTele-Care 811 or their doctor.

• Describe symptoms and travel history.

• Follow instructions.