New Brunswick Prepares for COVID-19 in the Winter Months

New Brunswick's COVID-19 winter action plan was unveiled on Friday and is currently in effect.

"We want New Brunswickers to gather with family and friends over the holidays," said New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell. "But we want it to be done safely."

"With winter comes colder weather, shorter days, more time spent inside and increased opportunity for COVID-19 to spread," said Health Minister Dorothy Shephard. "It is important we have a plan in place that ensures our health-care system is not overwhelmed, but also considers the mental, physical and financial health of New Brunswickers."

The tiered action plan is similar to the colour-coded recovery plan the province has been following for the majority of the pandemic. This time, there are just three different levels, with level one being the least restrictive. All health zones are currently in this level.

In level one, informal gatherings in homes have a 20 person capacity and outdoor informal gatherings are limited to 50 people. Unvaccinated people, however, are encouraged to avoid informal indoor gatherings altogether.

"Those who are older and unvaccinated face the greatest risk from COVID-19 right now," Dr. Russell said.

The Winter Action Plan has two more alert levels that feature increased restrictions, including household bubbles, lower capacity at restaurants, and no travel in or out of Level 2 or Level 3 areas except for essential reasons. Individual health zones or the entire province could move to a more restrictive level if there are significant increases in cases, hospitalizations or outbreaks. A move to Level 2 could be triggered by a positivity rate of 10 per cent or if there are around 70 people in hospital or 34 in the an intensive care unit. A move to Level 3 would be triggered by a 15 per cent increase in the positivity rate or 100 people in hospital or 50 in ICU.

Dr. Russell cautioned that holiday gatherings could lead to a spike in cases in the new year similar to one New Brunswick experienced at the start of 2020.

"Absolutely concerned about that, and obviously with this new variant of concern [omicron], it's even more challenging in terms of what the scenarios could look like," said Dr. Russell.

Booster shots will play a key role in New Brunswick's fight against COVID-19, and this week, eligibity to the booster program expanded. New Brunswickers age 50 and older can now schedule an appointment for a booster shot if six months have passed since their second dose of a vaccine.

Canadian travellers who can’t access the government’s ArriveCan app or just forget to fill it out, will no longer be forced to isolate for two weeks when crossing back into Canada.

Many fully vaccinated Canadians including some Charlotte County residents are currently in isolation after returning from short trips to the U.S. and failing to pre-register on the ArriveCAN app, which is a requirement for re-entry. On Monday night, Canada's Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino said Canadians who don't submit their travel information electronically using the app will now be allowed to provide travel details in person at the border instead of being told to isolate for two weeks on return. New Brunswick Southwest MP John Williamson says he's pressing Health Canada for immediate release of those already forced to quarantine due to failure to use the app.

Campobello Island Mayor Harvey Matthews is calling on all levels of government to help find a solution to Campobello's isolation issues in the time of COVID-19. Matthews believes islanders should be exempt from using the ArriveCan app for short trips to the US and should also have a fully subsidized ferry to the island. During the pandemic, the provincial government has been subsidizing a seasonal ferry connection to the mainland to run year-round, but islanders are still required to pay a service fee that costs over $50 round-trip. The province has decided to stop funding the ferry, the only link from the island to the rest of Canada that doesn't require travel through the U.S.,  at the end of December now that crossing the international border for short trips is more feasible. But this, of course, requires a traveller to have vaccination papers.

On behalf of council, Matthews sent a letter requesting a meeting with the Transportation Minister Jill Greene, MP John Williamson, MLA Kathy Bockus, Premier Blaine Higgs and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to find a longterm solution to an issue that's been exacerbated by the pandemic.