New Brunswick has announced that more than half of the province will be in the red alert level of COVID-19 recovery, as it reported 31 new cases on Tuesday.
As of midnight, Moncton (Zone 1), Saint John (Zone 2) and Fredericton (Zone 3) regions will transition to the red phase of COVID-19 recovery.
The Edmundston region will also remain under the red alert level.
The province now has 316 known active cases of COVID-19.
Four of the new cases reported Tuesday are located in Moncton, three in Saint John, and one each in Fredericton, Campbellton and Bathurst.
The province said 21 of the new cases are located in the Edmundston region.
In a provincial update, chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell said she is disappointed to see that there are still New Brunswickers who disregard public health guidelines.
“Despite all the scientific evidence that decisive action is needed, there will be doubters and sceptics.”
Russell said people compare N.B. cases to cases in other provinces, in an effort to minimize the impact of the virus in the province.
“There will be those who say ‘is it really that bad? And are these restrictions really necessary?,’” Russell said.
“Yes it is that bad, and these restrictions are required.”
Russell said the province can get to a place where it sees an exponential number of new cases each day.
“Things can get worse, and they will get worse without decisive action,” she said.
“Stay in your zone and don’t travel unnecessarily. Plan your week so you don’t have to make multiple trips to the grocery store.”
Premier Blaine Higgs said in the briefing that the province will not hesitate to announce even stricter measures if necessary.
“I continue to be disappointed,” Higgs said. “This is indeed a very serious situation.”
He said if the situation doesn’t improve, “a full lockdown like we saw in March of last year,” may be coming. Public Health is determining what a lockdown would look like at this point.
“We have never been a situation like this since the pandemic began. We have never had so many cases,” he said.
Higgs pleaded New Brunswickers once again to follow the rules as the majority of residents is now under the red alert level.
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Public Health doesn’t know if new variants of COVID-19 are present in New Brunswick at this time.
“Moving additional zones to the red level will impact many businesses,” Higgs said, adding that grants of up to $5,000 are still available to small businesses in the orange or red phase.
Higgs reminded residents that the province has decided to keep schools open under the red level, although its initial recovery plan was moving to online learning.
He said staff will be checked for symptoms every day before reporting to work. Should a case in a school appear, the school will close for minimum three days, and the school will become a testing site for staff.
A number of schools across the province reported cases of COVID-19 in the last two weeks. Last week, those schools included: Kennebecasis Valley High School in Quispamsis; Belleisle Elementary School in Springfield; Millidgeville North School in Saint John; and Riverview East School and Caledonia Regional High School in Hillsborough.
Quispamsis Middle School, École Élémentaire Sacré-Coeur and Happy Feet daycare in Grand Falls also confirmed positive cases on Sunday.
Higgs reminded residents in the Tuesday briefing that even those who may not be at risk of serious illness from COVID-19, can put others at serious risk.
“This is a critical point for New Brunswick. Government can put more and more measures in place but the reality is they will only work if we all agree to follow them.”
“Act like you have the virus, so stay at home, keep distances, don’t put yourself in a way that you can harm someone else,” Higgs said.
“Don’t take chances.”
Mayors call for collaboration
Dr. Russell met with municipal and provincial officials in Saint John and Moncton on Monday.
Before Tuesday’s press conference, Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said she believes the purpose of the visit was to “enlist the support of others to get the message across.”
“We are at a very critical point in this; we’re at a tipping point,” Arnold said. “We’ve all put a lot into this, and I know people are frustrated, they’re tired.”
She said many people’s livelihoods are at stake when it comes to increasing measures. “But this is so important right now, that we don’t give up. We’ve got to follow all of those guidelines.”
Dr. Russell noted the three southern regions count for the majority of New Brunswickers — where people live and work — and said there would be both intended and unintended consequences with the stricter measures. But, she said the restrictions are necessary to help minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Don Darling, the Mayor of Saint John, said he is trying to encourage people through the red phase.
“We can get through it…we can get through red. Red is not the red that it was before,” he said in an interview.
“Let’s follow the directives, some of them (are) common sense: wearing our masks, and being as patient as possible.
“Let’s push these 300 cases back down to zero,” Darling said, “and I’m confident that we can get through it.”
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