In a news conference Tuesday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin announced the reinstatement of requirements for New Brunswickers to self-isolate for 14 days when they enter Nova Scotia.
Rankin cited the ongoing cluster of cases in Edmundston, the confirmation of the South African variant in Saint John, and cases under investigation in the Moncton area as reasons for re-imposing the restrictions.
“Out of an abundance of caution and in consultation with [Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health] Dr. Strang and public health, we are reinstating the requirement for New Brunswickers to self-isolate when they cross the border into Nova Scotia as of 8am April 15,” said Rankin on Tuesday.
“This is tough, I know,” said Rankin. “But it’s necessary given what we are seeing across the border and in several other provinces where the cases are increasing rapidly because of the presence of variants. This is what we want to avoid here, an outbreak resulting from the more contagious spread.”
Rankin had more disappointing news for anyone looking forward to being able to freely travel across the Nova Scotia border on April 19. “This is looking unlikely right now,” said Rankin. “I’m meeting with my fellow Atlantic premiers either today or tomorrow to discuss how that might look in the future. But right now, we are leaning toward pushing back the reopening to sometime in May. It’s the right move, right now,” he said.
NB PASSED UP OPPORTUNITY FOR OPEN BORDER LAST MONTH
Rankin preemptively lifted Nova Scotia’s border restrictions back on March 20, 2021. Had New Brunswick followed suit at the time, Tantramar region residents would have enjoyed just shy of 4 weeks of free travel across the Nova Scotia border. But with Nova Scotia restrictions lifted and New Brunswick restrictions still in place, the border was still essentially closed to any travel outside of essential purposes.
In March, Rankin said he saw, “no reason to wait” to lift the restriction at the provincial border. Strang pointed out that the two provinces had similar epidemiology and that he hoped New Brunswick would also consider lifting the border restrictions. But New Brunswick refused to follow Nova Scotia’s lead.
Back on March 31, CHMA asked Health Minister Dorothy Shephard and NB Chief Medical Officer of Health Russell to explain the argument behind continuing the border restrictions with Nova Scotia, considering the neighbouring province had few active cases of COVID-19, and had lifted their own restrictions.
Shephard said at the time that border restrictions were New Brunswick’s key to success so far in the pandemic, though she acknowledged that, “it’s not been an easy time for families, loved ones, to have to stand by these restrictions.”
She also indicated the remaining border restrictions with Nova Scotia were partly in place to protect Nova Scotians.
“With regards to Nova Scotia,” said Shephard, “look, I know that their cases are down. I’m going to proudly say that Nova Scotia has us at their front and the Atlantic Ocean at their back. And so we carry a lot of responsibility in protecting them. So I don’t see our restrictions coming down any faster than the dates that we had proposed.”
BORDER CLOSED FOR NEARLY 5 MONTHS
Back in mid-March, just before Nova Scotia lifted restrictions, Aulac resident Beth Scammel started a petition to demand the re-opening of the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border. She says residents of Cumberland and Westmorland Counties have suffered financially, mentally, and emotionally from the border restrictions.
The Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border has been effectively closed since November 26, 2020, just under 5 months ago, when New Brunswick left the Atlantic Bubble. Nova Scotia then followed suit on January 9, 2021, and now travellers without exemptions going in either direction across the border are required to self-isolate for 14 days.
A series of changes to New Brunswick’s exemption rules in January caused confusion for some. Currently, regular work and school commuters are exempt from self-isolation requirements as long as they complete weekly COVID-19 tests. But those same people are not permitted to make trips for any other purpose such as shopping or visiting family.
One group that has been left out of exemptions altogether are those caring for older adults. While exemptions are in place for child custody and daycare arrangements, people who care for parents across the border are still required to isolate for 14 days after crossing.
Scammel’s petition is online at change.org.
