At midnight Sunday night, the province moved back into the yellow phase of public health restrictions, but that yellow phase will not be nearly as relaxed as it was during summer and fall. The new yellow is much closer to the new orange, with some tweaks.
Households can now expand their Steady 10 to a Steady 15, adding five more people to their list of close contacts.
Sports teams will be allowed to play within their league across zones, following their operational plan.
Indoor gatherings will be permitted as long as the venue is at 50 per cent capacity or less, and physical distance can be maintained.
Formal and informal outdoor gatherings of 50 people or fewer will be permitted with physical distancing in place.
Recent changes to the orange zone also means visits to hospitals are allowed, as is travel in and out of health zones at the same alert level.
At a news conference on Friday, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said that while re-opening the Atlantic Bubble remains a goal, it’s not imminent.
“Right now I don’t think that Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick are really considering opening the Atlantic bubble,” said Shephard. “It is certainly our goal. But that it will be a conversation between the premiers and public health in each province.”
NO NEW CASES IN ZONE 1
New Brunswick reported eight new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, six on Saturday and two on Sunday. None of the new cases were reported in Zone 1.
There are now 35 active cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, with just three of those in Zone 1.
An outbreak has been declared at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, after three health care workers tested positive for COVID-19. Staff and patients are being tested regardless of symptoms, and contact tracing is underway.
Over 2000 asymptomatic tests were conducted in the Miramichi region since Thursday. The testing spree was mounted after a case of the UK variant was confirmed in the region. Public Health says the asymptomatic testing has yielded no positive cases so far, but tests from Saturday are still being processed.
Over in Newfoundland, public health officials in the eastern region around St. John’s are offering voluntary asymptomatic testing. Many of those who tested positive during the St. John’s metro area outbreak had no symptoms, according to a provincial news release. Newfoundland Public Health says this testing will help them determine if there are any pockets of COVID-19 that have gone undetected, and will help in the decision to ease restrictions further.
Newfoundland announced just one new case of COVID-19 on Sunday, brining the province’s active case count to 87.
PEI announced two new cases of COVID-19, bringing their active case count to 26, the highest it’s been at any point in the pandemic.
One of the new cases was a close contact of a previous case, and another was at a public exposure site a week ago, where he is presumed to have caught the virus. In both cases, the people initially tested negative, and then days later developed mild symptoms and were tested again.
Over in Nova Scotia, that province announced 8 new cases over the weekend, with all being either travel-related or close contacts of previous cases. Nova Scotia has 29 active cases of COVID-19.
