Although two areas operating under a heightened level of COVID-19 restrictions have been trending in the right direction, New Brunswick health officials say the restrictions will remain in place “until at least early next week.”
Dr. Jennifer Russell confirmed at a press conference on Thursday that the Moncton zone and the Edmundston zone will continue with restrictions.
Health officials will reexamine the restrictions on Monday, Health minister Dorothy Shephard said on Thursday.
The Moncton region has been operating in the red phase of New Brunswick’s COVID-19 response plan since Jan. 19 while the Edmundston region has been under a full lockdown since Jan. 23.
Russell said that the lockdown in the Edmundston region looks like it’s working but that they want to see three or fewer cases a day in the region in order to move it out of that phase.
All other regions in the province remain in the orange phase of the recovery plan.
Orange phase here to stay
Comments from the Russell and New Brunswick politicians have suggested that although Moncton and Edmundston zones may be moved to the orange phase of restrictions it is unlikely any zone will be moved to the yellow phase anytime soon.
Shephard said last week that the province would remain in orange “for the foreseeable future.”
With New Brunswick detecting three cases of the B.1.1.7. COVID-19 variant, which was first discovered in the U.K., officials say orange is here to stay.
Russell said on Tuesday that two cases of the U.K. variant are in the Saint John region and one is in the Miramichi area — with two related to international travel and one to travel inside Canada.
“Now, more than ever, we need to follow the rules that are meant to protect us,” Shephard said during the provincial update on Thursday.
The orange phase will allow more businesses to reopen and permit individuals to spend time with their “steady 10,” Shephard said, referring to the 10-person bubble New Brunswickers are expected to restrict social interactions to.
The province reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. There are now 265 active cases in the province.
Thursday saw the Edmundston zone now lead the province in the total number of COVID-19 cases in each region.
Edmundston has now had 327 cases, pushing past the 325 cases that have been recorded in the Moncton region.
Caution urged over Super Bowl weekend
Both Russell and Shephard urged New Brunswickers to change any idea that this Super Bowl weekend would be like any other in the past.
They said that a weekend typically filled with parties and group gatherings must change in order to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions.
“No one wants their Super Bowl party to turn into a super-spreader event,” Russell said.
She would later clarify that health officials would prefer that no one hold a Super Bowl party but that out of the reasonable expectation people will hold gatherings they are being urged to limit social interactions — especially if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Shephard stressed that now was not the time to “drop the ball” in the province’s efforts to control the spread of the virus.
Update on postponed surgeries
New Brunswick’s Horizon Health tells Global News just over 200 surgeries were postponed in January across Horizon hospitals.
The group said in an email that surgeries may be postponed due to the following reasons:
- personal choice of patients not to proceed with surgery
- risk factors associated with the patients’ individual circumstance
- horizon’s ability to maintain Infection Prevention and Control and Public Health guidelines, such as enhanced cleaning protocols, physical distancing
- staffing resources
- hospital capacity and occupancy rate
“Although 200 surgeries were postponed, in some cases, other surgeries were booked to replace the cases that were cancelled,” according to Geri Geldart, Horizon’s vice-president of clinical services.
As of Feb. 1, there are 15,251 New Brunswickers waiting for surgery in Horizon hospitals.
That is a reduction of 690 cases since Jan. 1.
Potential exposures
New Brunswick health officials say a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been linked to Garderie Mélubulles, a child-care facility in Edmundston.
Families who attend the facility have been notified and the location will be closed for the next two days to allow for contact tracing.
Close contacts will be notified by public health.
The province also issued an exposure warning for a store in Fredericton.
Officials say the potential exposure occurred at Carrington & Company, located at 225 Woodstock Rd., on two dates.
The first was on Jan. 29, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and the second on Feb. 1, between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Province confirms 256 active cases
The province reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
Five of the new cases were located in the Moncton region: two people between the ages of 20 and 29; an individual between the ages of 30 and 39; an individual between the ages of 60 and 69; and an individual 90-years-old or older.
One new case was detected in the Fredericton region: an individual between the ages of 50 and 59.
Nine new cases were detected in the Edmundston zone: two people 19 years old or younger, an individual between the ages of 20 and 29; an individual between the ages of 30 and 39; two people between the ages of 50 and 59; an individual between the ages of 60 and 69 years old; and two people between the ages of 70 and 79.
A single new case was recorded in the Bathurst region: an individual between the ages of 50 and 59.
There have been 24 additional recoveries since Wednesday, meaning that as of Thursday there are now 256 active cases in the province.
New Brunswick has recorded 1,318 cases since the pandemic began, of which 1,043 people are considered to have recovered.
There have been 18 COVID-19-related deaths in the province.
As of Thursday, there are five people in the province in hospital as a result of the virus, two of whom are in intensive care.
— With files from Alexander Quon and Silas Brown.