New Brunswick did not have the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths and cases in the country over the holidays, the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed, but the province’s precise rates and ratings are unknown because the Department of Health has gathered two weeks of data. . together.
Last week, the federal COVID-19 report showed New Brunswick ranked first among provinces in COVID-19 deaths and cases consistent with 100,000 residents between Dec. 25 and Dec. 31.
In a live interview on CBC’s Information Morning Fredericton on Monday, Dr. Yves Léger, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health, warned that this was incorrect and that the province was actually ranked fifth.
Léger “made a mistake,” according to the Health Ministry.
In fact, New Brunswick ranks fifth for COVID deaths so far this respiratory virus season, which began Aug. 28 — not for the holiday week in question, said department spokesperson Adam Bowie.
He declined to provide New Brunswick’s COVID death rate — or ranking — for Dec. 25 to 31, directing inquiries instead to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
A spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada said it is based on knowledge of jurisdiction.
New Brunswick combined two weeks of COVID-19 awareness, Dec. 18-31, into its Jan. 4 COVIDWatch report because of the holiday, Léger said.
“It appears that” the federal government used those two weeks of information for New Brunswick and compared it to “what all the provinces were reporting, which week,” to compile the Dec. 25-31 rates, he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Public Health Agency of Canada showed the error.
“Two-week measurements of the number of cases and deaths in New Brunswick were shown as weekly counts and rates,” Anna Maddison, senior media relations adviser, said in an email.
Typically, when weekly data is rarely available for cases and rates in a specific province, those metrics are shown as “not available,” Maddison said.
“This has been retrospectively updated to reflect that the weekly data from the two weeks of December 18–31, 2022 were not available from New Brunswick,” she said.
Maddison noted that “many” jurisdictions have reduced holiday reporting schedules. Nova Scotia, for example, first only had two-week totals, he said. He then provided a weekly breakdown and updated the federal page online.
“If a breakdown by week is not available from a province, PHAC is not able to integrate it into its reporting,” Maddison said.
CBC requested a breakdown of COVID deaths and cases in the province during the week, but Bowie provided the data.
There have been 110 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in New Brunswick between Aug. 28, the start of the respiratory virus season, which includes other illnesses, such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and Dec. 31, Bowie said.
That puts the COVID death rate for this respiratory virus season at 13. 55 deaths per 100,000 people, “slightly higher” than the national rate of 12. 51 per 100,000 people, he said.
Dr. Leger “got it wrong” when he said the death rate for the week of Dec. 25 was the fifth-highest in the country, Bowie said.
“In fact, that ranking would actually be for this current respiratory illness season.”
Since then, the federal COVID has been updated. It shows that New Brunswick now has the third-highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the country and the third-highest rate of COVID cases, as of the week of Jan. 1.
New Brunswick’s COVID-19 death rate was 1. 1, which is equal to 100,000 that week, according to the most recent figures.
Manitoba had the highest rate at 1. 8 per 100,000 people. The national average is 0. 7, consistent with 100,000.
The COVID-19 case rate in New Brunswick for the same week 64 is consistent with 100,000.
Nova Scotia ranked first with 116 per 100,000 population, while the national average is 42 per 100,000 population.
With information from Morning Fredericton
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