COVID-19 dashboard replacement still shrouded in secrecy

New Brunswick is expected to launch its new COVID-19 web page Tuesday, but what information it will include remains unclear.

The weekly page, part of Public Health's communicable diseases website, replaces the COVID-19 dashboard, which has been reduced to weekly updates in recent weeks.

The Department of Health did not respond yet again Monday to a request for comment about whether all of the same data will still be available.

But Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, told CBC last month the province will "diminish the reporting … to more of a surveillance dashboard … just like the flu, et cetera."

Weekly influenza surveillance reports include information about:

The information is presented through a summary, graphs, tables and a map broken down into health zones.

There is no breakdown by ages, no vaccination data, and no information about hospital occupancy or the number of health-care workers off sick.

The report also provides a snapshot of influenza activity across Canada and globally.

The most recent weekly influenza report available is for nearly a month ago — March 6-12.

Critics have argued the government is asking New Brunswickers to manage their own risks for COVID-19 now that all Public Health measures have been lifted, but at the same time, it's providing less data about the virus to help them gauge that risk.

Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane has said part of transitioning to living with COVID-19 means "the reallocation of our time and resources to other Public Health priority areas."

He did not respond to a request to explain why maintaining the new weekly page will takes less time or resources or to elaborate on the other "priority areas."

As of the last update on March 29, New Brunswick reported 13 COVID-related deaths over the previous seven days and 142 people hospitalized across the province, including eight in intensive care.

On Monday, the Horizon Health Network alone reports having 125 COVID hospital patients, 13 of whom require intensive care.