Expert suggests New Brunswick on 'knife edge' as COVID-19 cases continue to rise

COVID-19

An epidemiologist says New Brunswick is teetering on a knife edge as it tries to prevent COVID-19 from spreading uncontrollably.

University of Toronto professor Dr. David Fisman says New Brunswick's current situation is similar to where Manitoba was last fall, right before cases rose sharply in that province after months of relatively few infections.

Fisman says it's concerning to see in New Brunswick the spread of COVID-19 in schools, meat-packing facilities, long-term care homes and among highly mobile young people.

Dalhousie University immunology professor David Kelvin says reducing viral transmission among the young is key to controlling the virus because, he says, cases in youth are often asymptomatic.

Kelvin says strategies such as pop-up rapid testing may help identify hot spots among young people.

Total cases in New Brunswick remain low at 132 cases per 100,000 people, but Premier Blaine Higgs said this week the province could move to a lockdown if current restrictions don't curb the spread of the virus.