New Brunswick has 'high' COVID-19 hazard index, warns researcher

New Brunswick's COVID-19 hazard index score is 'high' right now, with an estimated 1,700 people being infected with Omicron for the first time each day, according to COVID-19 Resources Canada, a research group funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. That's 213 infections per 100,000 New Brunswickers, as of July 9 — nearly 2½ times the national average of 87, says Tara Moriarty, co-founder of the group. The number of infections is likely even higher when reinfections are included, said Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto. 'You can probably add another 30 per cent,' she said, or 510 infections, raising the estimated provincial daily total to 2,210.