New Brunswick reported six new COVID-19 cases Friday, all in the Moncton region, but there are no hospitalizations and 69 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated.
But it’s been a week of confusion for some as the province’s “green phase” protocols evolve.
“The rules or the communication seems to be changing almost on a day-to-day basis. And as a business operator, it’s tough to keep pace with that,” says John Wishart, the CEO for the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton. “I think all of them want to do the right thing in terms of public health and public safety.”
“It would be nice to have some black and white guidance from the province,” he says in an interview.
Bruce Macfarlane, a Public Health spokesperson, told Global News this week people who test positive for COVID-19 will now be asked to isolate for 10 days — down from the previous 14 — regardless of vaccination status.
Macfarlane said late Friday “high-risk” close contacts need to isolate for at least 10 days.
“Anyone identified as a high-risk close contact is still being asked to isolate for a period of 14 days at this time,” Macfarlane wrote. “Whenever infected with COVID-19, it has been deemed that in most circumstances, the individual would be infectious (i.e. could transmit to others) for a period of 10 days; a day ten negative test would permit release from isolation.”
Asked what changed from Wednesday when he was quoted in the Telegraph-Journal, the provincial newspaper, saying “in general” people who are fully vaccinated would simply need a negative test and to self-monitor, Macfarlane said, “things have changed.”
The newspaper quoted him as saying isolation decisions would be “based on multiple factors.”
The New Brunswick government’s potential public exposure website, which now has over 60 locations listed, said earlier this week people were asked to “self-monitor.”
Now, it’s telling people to self-monitor and book a COVID-19 test.
Macfarlane said, “the website was updated to reflect the transition to green following the conclusion of the mandatory order.”
“It is the responsibility of the province to be more proactive and hopefully we will still see improvement (in) communication within the next few days,” says Jean-Claude D’Amours, the province’s Liberal health critic.
“If you take the example of possible exposures in different communities, they need to be more proactive,” he says. “If you’re not on Twitter, if you’re not on Facebook, it’s very difficult to have information from the province.”
Most of the current potential public exposure notices, found here, are in the Moncton region and most are in restaurants.
“It certainly hasn’t been a smooth transition to green because of the number of cases that have popped up in the last week,” says Wishart, the chamber’s CEO. “In terms of customers, it really is up to them to keep checking every day for what the exposure sites were because there’s no way now for a business to contact people who may have been at that restaurant from 6-8, say, in a particular evening.”
Overall, people we spoke to in a grocery store parking lot in Moncton Friday seemed to be fairly satisfied with provincial communication.
“It’s getting a little better than what it was,” says Neil Arbeau.
“The communication has been just fine,” says Christie Mason.
“I feel like it’s up to us now to check the website,” says Meaghan Pennell.
“It’s good,” says Annette Deveau. “We do listen a lot to the news, myself and my husband, and we read a lot.”
“I think they’re communicating quite well,” says Katrina Godbout. “I think with the outbreak in Moncton, we should have daily updates until it calms down.”