N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 4th wave 'cresting,' says Higgs

Premier Blaine Higgs says the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Brunswick is "cresting."

He points to the new daily cases going down, daily recoveries going up, and only eight of the 15 COVID patients in intensive care being on mechanical ventilators.

"So the severity is much lower," he said.

"We had a high at one point in ICU of, I think, 27 or 30. And in that case, we probably had close to 20 on ventilators. Or maybe that many were on ventilators. … I forget the exact number."

New Brunswick has seen a spike in cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the past few months. And now, the threat of the new COVID-19 variant of concern omicron looms after cases have been confirmed in Ontario and Quebec.

There are 66 people hospitalized with COVID in the province, two of whom are under 19. Twenty-seven of them contracted the virus while already in hospital for another reason, with outbreaks at the Moncton Hospital, Saint John Regional Hospital and Miramichi Regional Hospital.

But Higgs contends they "aren't as acute."

Asked whether New Brunswick will start reporting the number of ICU patients on ventilators, he replied: "We do report it, actually. Or if we don't, we probably should, because it leads to the severity of cases."

Higgs said it "hasn't been easy" navigating the pandemic, and he hopes the new variant "won't create issues that take us back a year or more ago."

If people continue to follow Public Health measures, he believes "we will come on the other side of this."

"We're always going to have cases" though, he added.

"This is life with COVID. And we're going to have to find ways to just manage that because we don't see it ending anytime soon.

"And there will be unrest and there will be people that won't get vaccinated. And as a result, we'll continue to be in this similar situation."

Public Health announced another COVID-related death Tuesday and 55 new cases of COVID-19.