There are no new cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, according to chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell, but it’s not the time to relax yet.
In the last week there have been just four new cases, with the total number of confirmed cases remaining at 118.
READ MORE: New Brunswick announces no new cases of coronavirus for 3rd time in 4 days
Dr. Russell thanked New Brunswickers for their continued vigilance in following public health requirements, but once again stressed how important it is that people continue to take the outbreak seriously.
“In recent days there has been a clear trend. Fewer new cases are being confirmed and more people are recovering from their illness and there is no doubt that this is good news and we can share in the success we have had to date,” she said. “But make no mistake this pandemic is not over here or anywhere else in the world and we must remain on guard and continuing what got us to this stage.”
“We are not done with COVID-19 and COVID-19 is not done with us.”
Currently there are 20 active cases of the virus in the province and 98 are considered recovered.
READ MORE: New Brunswick reports single additional case of coronavirus
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Over the last week premier Higgs has said that if the case count in New Brunswick remains positive, some restrictions could be lifted sometime in May. But Dr. Russell said today that people should be prepared for the possibility that restrictions could be put back in place after being lifted.
“This will be a cyclical event … so as long as we are bordering on jurisdictions that have case counts that are increasing we have to stay vigilant and we have to be prepared for releasing measures and then imposing them again on very short notice,” she said.
“So we are going to be doing a dance basically where we lift measures and then we put them back in place based on data and based on the criteria that is being established at the national level.”
Higgs too commented on how careful the province must be as it looks to slowly re-open the economy.
“We just cannot allow any option of loosening our current situation that would be to our detriment and we see an increase of cases because it can start so quickly if we don’t all continue to exercise good behavior,” he said.
Sunday’s mass shooting in neighboring Nova Scotia also cast a shadow on the press conference with both Higgs and Dr. Russell offering their condolences to those impacted by the tragedy.
Higgs recognized that there will be some impacted who are unable to see their loved ones or give their condolence in person due to pandemic restrictions, but said we can’t lose sight of why those restrictions are in place.
“It is really tough but it has to be handled in a different way, because we can’t lose sight of why we have these public health measures in place,” Higgs said.
“And we can’t lose sight of the emotion and the tragedy that effects everyone of us whether it happened in Nova Scotia or it happened elsewhere. This is an immeasurable loss in our … neighbouring province and we all are devastated by it.”
we must not get ahead of ourselves and we must continue to do all that we can to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
The first press briefing since Friday will go ahead at 2:30 p.m. AT.
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