New Brunswick lifts all COVID-19 restrictions for 2nd time, hopes for different outcome | CBC News - Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon:
March 14, 2022 - "No more provincially mandated masks. No more limits on gatherings or distancing rules. No more legally required isolation for people infected with COVID-19. New Brunswick lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions Monday with the end of the mandatory order, nearly two years after it began. ''It doesn't mean that the pandemic is over,' Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, said Monday....
'Premier Blaine Higgs declared a state of emergency on March 19, 2020, in response to the pandemic. It was the first province-wide state of emergency in New Brunswick history and gave the government extraordinary powers, such as restricting travel into the province and ordering business closures, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The province had seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the time and four probable cases. No one had been hospitalized. And no one had died.... On Friday, New Brunswick recorded another COVID-related death, raising the pandemic death toll to 317.... As of Friday, 50.6 per cent of the eligible New Brunswickers had received their COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, and 87.3 per cent had received two doses.....
"In recent days, a number of experts have raised concerns about the government's decision to lift restrictions and questioned the independence of Russell's office, suggesting politics played a role. Russell said throughout the pandemic, decisions about whether to tighten or loosen restrictions have been made by government, based on information from her team. 'These are recommendations. It is up to cabinet to make the final decision. That's what governments do. That's how a democracy works,' she said....
"The province has not said whether any specific hospitalization or case rates would trigger a return of restrictions. 'Given information we have today, we can only talk about what's happening right now,' Russell has said.... 'When we poll the population, they're all very supportive of continuing to do the things that they've been doing all along, whether there's a mandatory order in place or not,' said Russell....
"Hospitals remain at the red alert level, which means masks are still required and general visitors are prohibited. Long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and special care homes, will continue to follow Public Health guidance, including masking and isolating those who are ill. While mandatory restrictions have ended, some businesses and facilities may choose to maintain their own COVID policies to protect their staff and patrons. These may include vaccinations, staying home when sick, proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and maintaining ventilation systems.
"New Brunswick lifted all restrictions before, on July 30, [2021], when it entered the so-called green phase of COVID-19 recovery before reaching its original target to have 75 per cent of New Bruswickers aged 12 and older fully vaccinated. The move came just as Canada's top doctor warned of a variant-driven fourth wave.... Less than two months later, on Sept. 24, the emergency order was reinstated, after the province recorded three more deaths and 78 new cases — both record highs at the time....
"Just two months ago, Higgs announced a move to Level 3 of the COVID-19 winter plan, the most restrictive level, which limited social gatherings to single household bubbles, prohibited public gatherings, closed eat-in restaurants, gyms, salons, spas, entertainment centres and churches. He cited what was then a record-high of 104 COVID hospitalizations, the number of health-care workers off with COVID, and rising cases. The 16-day lockdown would give the province the time it needed to slow the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and to administer booster doses and vaccinate children aged five to 11, he said.... BA.2 is believed to be about 30 per cent more transmissible than BA.1, which drove the surge in hospitalizations and cases during the fifth wave.
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