N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 1 new case in Edmundston, vaccine arrives in Miramichi
New Brunswick has one new confirmed case of COVID-19, a person in their 40s in the Edmundston region, Zone 4, Public Health announced Tuesday.
The individual is self-isolating and the case is under investigation.
The Edmundston region remains at the orange level of COVID-19 recovery, while the rest of the province is at the less restrictive yellow level.
The first 1,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived at the Miramichi Regional Hospital on Tuesday, Public Health said.
The doses will be administered to members of priority groups this weekend at an immunization clinic at the hospital.
New Brunswick now has 47 active cases of the respiratory disease. Three people are in hospital, two of them in intensive care.
The active cases include: four in the Moncton region (Zone 1), 15 in the Saint John region (Zone 2), 11 in the Fredericton region (Zone 3), 15 in the Edmundston region, and two in the Bathurst region (Zone 6).
The province has had 559 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March. Eight people have died from the virus and 503 people have recovered.
A total of 141,282 tests have been completed to date.
Mass testing continues
It's been a relatively quiet few days in the province's COVID case load, but New Brunswickers are waiting to see the full extent of the outbreak in the Edmundston region.
Over the past four days, only five new cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the province.
But Public Health continues to do mass testing at the Edmundston Hospital, the site of an outbreak.
Dr. John Tobin, head of the family medicine department in Zone 4 for the Vitalité Health Network, told CBC on Monday that he expects more cases from the region.
"We need to suspect every patient as a potential carrier," said Tobin.
Food banks hit hard by COVID
The head of the Fredericton region's largest food bank says it's been a strange year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that the Greener Village Food Bank has had to make significant changes to its programs and how it delivers its services.
Alex Boyd said the ever changing nature of the pandemic has sometimes made that a tall order.
"It's had pretty wide ranging impacts," said Boyd.
"I like to call COVID the virus of change because it changes so much so rapidly."
The food bank had to cancel much of its programming and move to a drive-thru and delivery method of getting food to its clients.
While there was a huge increase at the beginning of the pandemic, and numbers are still up, Boyd said it was the demographic shift in clients that struck him.
"A lot of students, who their part time jobs disappeared that they relied on to to put food on the table, international students who were part of the cafeteria program or their food programs on campus and the campuses are closed," said Boyd.
"We were doing a lot of deliveries to people who didn't have vehicles because that's just not the lifestyle of a university student who's here from abroad."
Boyd said food donations have been down at the food back since the pandemic began.
He said while grocery stores and restaurants have helped pick up the slack, lots of food drives and events can't happen because of the pandemic.
"It can present a challenge when you're trying to bring in as much as you can to meet the needs," said Boyd.
"That means that we've been purchasing more food, spending more money on food."
He said it's impossible to know what the pandemic might bring in the coming months, but the food bank is preparing for all outcomes.
"That's kind of what we're doing now, is making deals, making sure that we have our plans in place," said Boyd.
"What are we going to deliver for services, how we're going to do it well, and how are we going to make sure that the people who are in need get the best possible that we can give them."
Exposure notification
Public Health added three new flights Friday to its list of possible exposures. A person who has tested positive may have been infectious while travelling on Dec. 4 on the following flights:
Air Canada Flight 8372 from Fort McMurray to Calgary.
Air Canada Flight 144 from Calgary to Toronto.
Air Canada Flight 8918 from Toronto to Moncton.
Anyone who travelled on these flights should "continue to follow the directives given to them during the travel registration process and when they entered New Brunswick," the advisory said.
What to do if you have a symptom
People concerned they might have COVID-19 symptoms can take a self-assessment test online.
Public Health says symptoms shown by people with COVID-19 have included:
A fever above 38 C.
A 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.
Call Tele-Care 811 or their doctor.
Describe symptoms and travel history.
Follow instructions.
