New Brunswick will enter a modified Level 2 of the Winter Action Plan at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 27.
Premier Blaine Higgs announced the move on Tuesday in response to the exponential spread of the virus in the neighbouring jurisdictions of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Maine.
“We are announcing the move to Level 2 today because we know that this change will have an impact on both people and businesses, and we want to give everyone time to prepare,” Higgs said during a COVID-19 briefing.
New measures include limiting household contacts to a “steady 10,” as well as changes to operating capacity and physical distancing.
For restaurants, salons, spas and entertainment centres, capacity cannot exceed 50 per cent, and physical distancing must be enforced, including the use of barriers.
Businesses, organizations and event spaces must operate at 50 per cent capacity to a maximum of 150 people.
At faith venues, capacity is also capped at 50 per cent, though choirs are not permitted, and venues are allowed a soloist.
In professional sports leagues, practices are only permitted for a single team at a time and games are not allowed.
Higgs explained it’s necessary to implement new restrictions before New Year’s celebrations.
“New Year’s can be – and the period between Christmas and New Year’s – a very significant time for people to gather in large numbers and celebrate. We want to celebrate, and as someone said, ‘it’s better to put off celebrating now so we can celebrate later than celebrate now and grieve later,” Higgs said.
More details about the measures in each of the three levels can be found here.
Case data
New Brunswick Public Health announced 156 new cases of COVID-19 with 157 recoveries on Tuesday. The number of active cases across the province now rests at 1,268.
Of the new cases, 47 are in the Moncton region, 39 are in the Saint John region, 34 are in the Fredericton region, 10 are in the Edmundston region, two are in the Campbellton region, four are in the Bathurst region and 20 are in the Miramichi region.
Hospitalizations remain stable, as 41 New Brunswickers in hospital are positive for COVID-19, which includes 17 individuals in an ICU.
As of Tuesday, 82.7 per cent of the province’s eligible population is fully vaccinated, 89.6 per cent have received their first jab, and 14.8 per cent have received their booster.
To date, 71 cases in New Brunswick have been confirmed to be the Omicron variant.
Modelling shown by Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, indicates when Omicron replaces Delta as the dominant strain in the province, COVID-19 infections could double every three days.
At that pace, New Brunswick could see up to 250 new cases every day by mid-January and as many as 400 new cases by the end of January.
Contact tracing
Changes have also been announced to the method used for contact tracing.
“Starting today, contact tracers will no longer be notifying close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases. This will be the responsibility of those who are infected and this is what is happening as well in Nova Scotia,” said Russell.
“Public Health will provide advice to an infected person on what to tell their personal close contacts regarding testing and isolating procedures.”
In addition, when an infection is confirmed in a K-8 school, the entire school is considered a close contact and individuals must take a POCT.
For high schools, those who share a class or bus with a person who contracts COVID-19 will be considered a close contact.
Booster dose eligibility
Changes to the eligibility for a COVID-19 booster were announced by Health Minister Dorothy Shephard.
The boosters are expanding to include the immediate household family members aged 18 and over of those working in long-term care facilities, hospitals, and schools.
In addition, early childhood centres and daycare staff and immediate family members 18 and older, if the individual is 180 days since their second dose.
This could change again in January to include individuals aged 40 years old and over, said Russell.
