The Memramcook-Tantramar Community Task Force has published an open letter expressing “deep concern about how the pandemic is being managed” in New Brunswick.

The task force is a volunteer organization in the Sackville area created in response to COVID-19.

Their letter calls on the provincial government to “provide more incentives for people to get vaccinated,” reinstate masking in schools, and provide more information in weekly updates. 

That news comes as Public Health changes in the ways cases of COVID-19 are recorded and reported by New Brunswick’s provincial government. 

The province has discontinued its online COVID-19 dashboard; instead, it has introduced new weekly reports on a government webpage called COVIDWATCH. 

It states there were 78 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations during the seven days that ended on Saturday - that number only reflects patients hospitalized for COVID and it has increased by 31 compared to last week. There are nine people who are receiving intensive care.

There are other changes to how the provincial government reports on COVID-19. 

For example, the number of hospital staff off work because of the virus will no longer be reported by Public Health.

Task force co-chair Margaret Tusz-King told CHMA on Tuesday what prompted the publication of the open letter.