Three more New Brunswickers who had COVID-19 have died, Public Health announced on Thursday.
That includes a person in their 50s in the Saint John region, a person in their 70s in the Moncton area, and a person in their 80s from the Edmundston health zone.
The total number of COVID-related deaths in the province since the pandemic began now stands at 199.
There are now 124 people in the hospital with COVID-19, compared to 123 on Wednesday. Twelve patients require intensive care and nine are on a ventilator.
Of those currently hospitalized, three are under the age of 20, and 71 were admitted for reasons other than COVID-19.
Public Health said 417 health-care workers are in isolation after testing positive with the virus.
Based on PCR testing, there are 488 new cases with 4,389 known active cases across the province.
That includes 1,570 active cases in the Moncton region and 930 active cases in the Saint John area.
There have also been 953 new positive rapid test results reported through the province’s online portal.
The rate of new PCR cases is 67 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, 23.6 per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 56.9 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
Of those currently in hospital, the rate is 15.3 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, 11.8 per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 22.1 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
Among those in the ICU, the rates are 1.3 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, zero per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 4.2 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
Changes to reporting of COVID-related deaths
New Brunswick health officials have changed the way they report COVID-19-related deaths.
Up until recently, Public Health reported that individuals died “as a result of COVID-19.”
But that wording changed in its daily news releases over the past few days without notice.
Since Monday, the releases from Public Health have said “people who had COVID-19 have died.”
It is unclear why the province made this change or whether other jurisdictions have done the same.
We tried to get answers from the Department of Health about the change, but a spokesperson did not return our request for comment.
With files from Brad Perry.
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