The New Brunswick government on Friday December 3rd released its winter plan for COVID-19, three days earlier than planned.

In the face of a “very concerning” rise in infections over the past two weeks and a disproportionate number of cases among the unvaccinated, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard put the plan into Saturday at 11:59 p.m.
She stated it would remain in effect until spring, according to the government they’ve given “choice” to the businesses…. while they apply pressure behind the scenes.

The entire province will be in Level 1, the lowest level of restrictions, when the plan goes into effect Saturday. It includes the following rules and guidelines:
Informal indoor gatherings limited to 20.
Outdoor gatherings limited to 50 people.
Unvaccinated residents should avoid informal indoor gatherings.
Masks will be required in outdoor spaces when physical distancing can’t be maintained.
Malls, grocery stores, salons must enforce physical distancing.
Malls, grocery stores, salons have the option of requiring proof of vaccination from all patrons.
Schools will follow existing plans at this time.
“The measures are not difficult,” Shephard said, noting “the power to keep us in level one is in our hands.”

1) The government cites “very concerning” rise in infections, now I’m not a genius but even I know that cases are bound to go up in the winter months, in fact it would be surprising if they didn’t. Just click the link to see the daily covid cases as well as deaths for the province from March 6, 2020 to July 30, 2020
https://www.jccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/NB-year-deaths-graph-March.png

As you can see from basically November to end of February cases spike way up as well we see a small increase in the case fatality rates. However, given that 87.1% of the population have been injected once and 81.9% twice, shouldn’t the numbers be going down even adjusting for seasonal variation?

2) The story cites that “a person in their 70’s in the Moncton region, Zone 1, and a person in their 50’s in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, have died as a result of Covid-19”, my question is where they injected or un-injected? I would bet a “steak dinner” they were injected, if they weren’t, the CBC wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to mention that fact.

3) The story cites that now there have been 132 deaths in the province. The Justice Centre has been tracking the numbers from New Brunswick as best as they can, the first link is to the numbers from March 7, 2021

https://www.jccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Covid-Statistics-New-Brunswick-march-7-2021.pdf

I want you to pay attention to the overall fatality rate, survival rate as well pay attention to the hospitalizations with Covid and the deaths by age groups. The province unfortunately doesn’t provide everything but there is lots there. As you can see both ICU numbers are low as well as overall deaths. Now take a look at the October 23, 2021 numbers and pay attention to the same ones as March. What you’ll notice is that the hospitalization numbers have increased as well as death have gone up considerably. Based on the numbers we had in October total deaths were at 46 from 38 in March, however now according to the article it’s 132. That’s an increase of 86 from October, which is a lot.

https://www.jccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Covid-Statistics-New-Brunswick-oct-23-2021.png

Now the only explanations for this can be, either the data provided by New Brunswick wasn’t fully accurate till October or the Justice Center misreported the data, or the numbers simply took a huge leap up. Regardless of which it is, given that 87.1% of the population have been injected once and 81.9% twice, shouldn’t the numbers be going down in terms of case fatalities?
4) In the article they state “Un-injected people represent a disproportionate number of recent cases and are experiencing more severe outcomes, the chief medical officer of health stressed. Friday’s new cases translates to 8.8 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 injected, Russell said. For the un-injected, the rate per 100,000 jumps to 32.9 — nearly four times as much” My question to the chief medical officer would be of the total number of deaths (most severe outcome in my books), what was the breakdown between the injected and un-injected?
5) How is preventing un-injected folk from purchasing groceries going to somehow stop the spread of Covid? Obviously based on this article we know that not all the cases or case fatalities are of the un-injected, the injected are experiencing cases and case fatalities, so do we need to stop them from going out as well, given the comprise the large segment of the population as they’re spreading it amongst themselves?
6) One of the most glaring things in this article is the absolute silence on preventative health measure citizens can take as well as early treatment. How is it that after basically 20 months the leaders of New Brunswick are tackling Covid basically the same way as they did in the beginning. Sending the sick home, till they get sick and then putting them on ventilators, have they no contact with the outside world? Perhaps they’ve never heard of Florida, Uttar Pardesh or reading the numerous studies and real-world outcomes involving treatment. They are not encouraging their citizens to focus on the number one co-morbidity, obesity, which unfortunately is rampant in the maritime provinces as the average BMI (body mass index) numbers run above the average nationwide.

I, like all Canadians don’t want to see anyone die unnecessarily from Covid-19, however, the solution that the New Brunswick government is proposing, basically pits citizens against one and other and is aimed at denying those who can clearly see the injection policies aren’t working and don’t want to be injected, the right to even get groceries.

I know supporters of the government will argue that the government isn’t mandating that grocery stores do not serve those that aren’t injected, yes, while that’s true, they are allowing said grocers to deny service to the un-injected. This shouldn’t even be on the table, since when did “eating” become optional and not essential. Given that co-morbidities increase the chances of succumbing to COVID, injected or un-injected, and the number one co-morbidity is obesity.

If the New Brunswick government were serious about tacking COVID, perhaps they could limit access to grocery stores to only those with low BMI’s, which unfortunately however, would mean that both Health Minister Dorothy Shepard and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Russell would be in trouble judging by their pictures. I’m sure they would agree that isn’t unfair and would feel that this would “apply enough pressure behind the scenes” as they put it, to lose weight. I’m sure they would be willing to lead by example and follow the science, and do their part right?

Here is the full story.

https://www.eastonspectator.com/2021/12/05/new-brunswick-government-opens-door-to-deny-the-unvaccinated-groceries/