It’s been a year since the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Canada, and a year since New Brunswick’s Public Health held press conferences about the pandemic.
“At this one year anniversary, I think it’s very significant to say that we have really come out of this year quite successfully in terms of the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and just the seriousness of what we’ve seen,” said Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.
“Our objective was always to find the right balance between personal freedom and protecting public health. Like everyone in the world, we’re making adjustments as we learn ore about the virus.”
One of those adjustments is the guidelines under the orange phase, which will begin at midnight.
The province said that regions in the orange phase would remain in that phase for some time due to fears over dangerous variants of the virus.
“No region in this province will move beyond the orange level until we have a clear understanding of the impact of these variants,” Russell said.
“We expect orange will be the status quo for at least the next little while,” said Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, adding that the government and Public Health is looking at reviewing the yellow level guidelines.
But changes to the guidelines will allow residents in orange zones to once again see some friends and family members.
Russell said in addition to a household bubble, residents in those zones can now interact with 10 close contacts, or the “Steady 10.”
The list must remain the same, and anyone on your list must also count you among their 10 contacts.
Public Health said keeping the group small will make contact tracing better when outbreaks happen, and will help slow the spread by keeping groups small.
Other updates to the guidelines include:
- Licensed premises like bars or restaurants must ensure all patrons are seated at all times, except to enter and leave the premises and to go to and from washrooms. People can only dine with their household bubble and their Steady 10. Restaurants must continue to take contact information of diners, like they did in yellow level, to assist with contact tracing.
- Outdoor gatherings with physical distancing of 50 people or fewer are permitted.
- Driving with members of the Steady 10 is allowed and masks are not required.
Russell said Public Health is particularly concerned about four new variants of COVID-19, including the U.K. variant now found with community transmission in Ontario, and the African variant found circulating through community transmission in B.C.
“These are much more transmissible, they’re much more contagious, they infect way more people, so that is the challenge we’re facing now,” said Russell.
These variants would bring a worse “third wave” of the pandemic to the province than the first and second waves, she added, because they’re between 30-to-70 percent more transmissible. While New Brunswick has testing capacity for those variants, the rapid spread would make it much harder to do contact tracing and isolating.
To adapt to the new challenges presented, New Brunswick continues to discourage travel within the province and has imposed new travel restrictions for everyone coming into the province, including rotational workers.
They now have to self-isolate every time they enter the province, ideally in a hotel, a detached apartment or a granny suite. But if they have to isolate with other people, like their family at home, the whole household bubble must isolate with them. Should symptoms or a positive test appear during that time, they must restart the 14-day isolation.
Public Health reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 Friday. Four of the new cases were found in the Moncton health zone, two were in the Fredericton region, nine were in the Edmundston area, and one was reported in Bathurst.
Another COVID-19 related death was reported, meaning there’s now 17 deaths in the province since the pandemic began. The 80-89-year-old individual who passed away was a resident at Manoir Belle Vue in Edmundston.
There are now 313 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 15 more recoveries reported since Thursday. Four people are hospitalized, with two in intensive care.
