Despite much speculation throughout the day, the Atlantic premiers have not officially decided when they will reinstate the so-called Atlantic bubble.
The premiers of the four provinces met virtually Wednesday and while rumours had been flying earlier that an April date would be announced, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters in the evening that simply wasn’t the case yet.
“In very short order, we’ll be able to come together on a timeline we’re all comfortable with and get ready for a better summer, a better spring,” he said.
Higgs says while there is no target date, they had been looking at mid-April and were “keen to move to the next level.” He also says the bubble will likely initially include just the three Maritime provinces, with Newfoundland and Labrador to join later.
He adds, however, the premiers are cognizant of the high COVID-19 case counts in other parts of the country, especially cases involving variants of concern. That’s why premiers will be further discussing the Atlantic bubble with their cabinets and health officials.
“For me, it’s about not rushing ahead,” he said. “It’s about having a calculated move forward so we don’t have to have an uncalculated move backward.”
The bubble was created in July 2020, when the mandatory 14-day quarantine for inter-provincial travellers was removed among the four Atlantic provinces.
The provinces retained low Covid-19 cases all summer and the bubble’s success even caught the eye of international media.
But on Nov. 23, 2020, P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador pulled out of the bubble, citing growing case numbers in the other two provinces.
Three days later, New Brunswick announced it too was withdrawing from what was left of the bubble.
A lot has changed since then.
The provinces have struggled with the emergence of variant cases, and outbreaks — including a large one in Newfoundland that peaked at 434 active cases in late February.
The arrival of vaccine shipments and vaccination rollouts have also taken place since the last Atlantic bubble.
And it’s the success of those plans that Higgs is most optimistic about.
He says if vaccinations happen as planned, he expects the region will be opening up to the rest of the country in early summer.
“Once we achieve herd immunity levels, I would say our isolation requirements would ultimately disappear,” he said.
He says opening to the rest of Canada has always been on the premiers’ radar, but their first focus right now is the Atlantic bubble.
He plans to speak with his cabinet Thursday, and expects the other premiers will be doing the same.
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