Local events, hospital policies changing as province reports a large spike in hospitalized H1N1 cases

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By Nick Moore
Times & Transcript Staff

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Metro Moncton's second wave of H1N1 activity is starting to have an impact on the ground, from restrictions placed on hospital visitations to sporting events being cancelled.

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GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Moncton Wildcats team physician, Dr. Martin Robichaud, discusses the status of the team yesterday.

At the same time, provincial health officials say they've seen more hospitalized H1N1 cases in the last week than what they've seen since the pandemic began in April.

A total of 18 new H1N1 hospitalizations have been tallied across the province. Until now, there had only been five hospitalized cases.

There have been no H1N1-related deaths reported in the province to this point.

Of the new hospitalizations, six have been children under the age of 10, while seven have been in the 11-to-20 age range. A total of three hospitalized H1N1 cases have been people between 21 and 29, while two have been over 30.

"My early information is that all these people were admitted to hospital but did not require intensive care and most have been discharged and are recovering well," said Dr. Eilish Cleary, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health.

"We would expect that there have been a couple thousand cases of H1N1 in the province thus far," she added, noting that not every suspected pandemic flu case is being confirmed by laboratory testing.

"By and large, it doesn't particularly matter (if it's confirmed or not) because the treatment is the same for any other flu or cold. Basically it will get better and you should stay home until you're feeling better and resume normal activities."

It's the prevalence of illness in the community, and people taking sick days, which is starting to have an impact. Two players with the Moncton Wildcats hockey team have confirmed H1N1 flu cases while 15 other players and team staff members are experiencing flu-like symptoms. Because of this, two home games scheduled for tonight and Friday have been cancelled. This past Sunday's game against the Montreal Juniors was also postponed.

Regional Health Authority A says they're banning all public visitations to Moncton's Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont Regional Hospital and Sainte-Anne-de-Kent's Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital, in an attempt to curb flu transmissions.

RHA A said "very strict exceptions" would be made for visits to critically ill, palliative care and pediatric patients. The Horizon Health Network (which administers The Moncton Hospital) doesn't have as strict a visitor policy at this time, although all visitors entering and leaving those facilities are being asked to use an alcohol-based hand rinse. Hospital visitors may also be asked to wear a mask when inside the facility.

All schools in Metro Moncton are open right now, but some schools are reporting high absenteeism rates.

While the schools say they can't blame the flu solely for students not showing up for class, District 2 (which administers all English schools in southeastern New Brunswick) said 30 of their schools are reporting absenteeism rates at or above 10 per cent, which could have anything to do with illness or previously scheduled appointments.

Cleary said the province's advice for children and adults experiencing flu-like symptoms was to stay home, and only leave if it was to seek medical attention.

Otherwise, Cleary said people who are feeling fine should carry on normal activities and socialize as per usual.