There was good news and there was bad news at Thursday’s New Brunswick government COVID-19 update.
First, the good news.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell made the official announcement that Sackville, the Tantramar region, and the rest of Zone 1, can return to the yellow phase of restrictions.
“The outbreak in zone one has been brought under control,” said Russell on Thursday. “We’re seeing fewer cases related to that outbreak and have identified links among all the reported cases. Today cabinet has confirmed that Zone One will transition back to the yellow phase of recovery effective at 12:01am Friday.”
This means hairdressers, salons, gyms and cinemas can reopen. Bubbles can expand from two households to close friends and family. And although masks will still be a big part of our lives, they are no longer required in outdoor public spaces. They are still, however, required in all indoor public spaces.
The Campbellton Restigouche region is not so lucky.
In addition to reporting three new cases in the Campbellton-Restigouche region yesterday, Russell announced that Zone 5 will remain in orange phase, and be asked to reduce their bubbles down to one household only.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” said Russell. “We’ve been seeing transmission within family and social and workplace settings. And so this is one of the measures that we know will help stop the spread.”
“The situation in zone five is serious,” said Russell. “I know that people in Campbellton-Restigouche feel targeted and shamed by the outbreak. And I am not here to blame anyone and I want to be encouraging and optimistic and promote cooperation in taking on this challenge.”
Russell explained that since it was first reported on October 8, 2020, the outbreak in Campbellton has grown to 69 cases, with two people in hospital and one dead. And unlike the outbreak in Moncton, the source of the outbreak was never identified, and all cases have not been connected.
“We have at least four separate chains of infection, which we can’t link to the larger outbreak,” said Russell. “And this is a strong indication that there is community spread happening in zone five. And so public health continues to investigate the sources of these cases.
“In the course of our contact tracing, many hundreds of people in zone five have been told to self isolate in an effort to break these chains of infection,” said Russell. “That is the only way to stop this.”
Statistically, Russell said, the rate of infections in Campbellton-Restigouche is many times higher than the Canadian rate, on a per capita basis.
To try to get a more accurate picture of how many cases are in the region, Public Health is conducting two drop-in testing days for asymptomatic people who think they may have had contact with someone infected with COVID-19.
Russell said that the fact that public health could not trace the source of the Campbellton outbreak was signifcant, and could mean community transmission.
“We’ve been worried about this since the beginning,” said Russell. “And then when we had two more unlinked chains of transmission that made us even more worried… If there’s community transmission, then what are the steps that the community needs to take? What are the steps that public health needs to take? The hospital system, etc?
Russell said the goal is to contain the outbreak as quickly as possible, but without doing too much damage. “Whatever measures we impose have to match the risk and proportionality,” she said. “Knowing that any measures that we impose that are above and beyond the yellow phase can cause hardships from a mental health perspective, from an income perspective, from an education perspective.”
