Eased Coast: the nation’s newest bubble
RESTRICTIONS LIFTED ACROSS ATLANTIC CANADA
This Friday, on the first weekend after Canada Day, with the pandemic summer officially arrived, the Atlantic provinces will go into a bubble together.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island announced they would reprise on a provincial scale what households have been doing for a couple of weeks in other parts of Canada, maintaining isolation with the wider world, while getting back together with close neighbours.
The idea is to protect a region with low numbers, and to keep them that way while also boosting the precious summer tourist industry.
So, as of Friday, people will be allowed to travel within the Atlantic provinces, crossing provincial borders without the mandatory 14-day quarantine imposed on travellers from the rest of Canada.
There has been objection that the move is too early, and risks undoing the positive effects of the lockdown hardship that people are still enduring.
For example, a petition to keep Newfoundland and Labrador closed to travel gathered nearly 12,000 names as of Monday afternoon.
“Our province has been slowly healing and going back to normal, we want to keep it that way,” the petition said. “The rest of the world is still in the middle of the pandemic, with over 100,000 daily new cases, this is not the time to open our borders.”
But despite resistance from Atlantic premiers to the idea of a bubble earlier this month, it is clear a joint decision has been made to push ahead with confidence in the safety of interprovincial travel. All provinces are maintaining numerical limits on the size of gatherings, restrictions in support of social distancing, and advice about masking.
But this is clearly the start of a regional reopening push. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball has even signalled that the province might open to all of Canada in as little as two weeks.
Newfoundland and Labrador currently has no known active cases, and a little over 250 recovered cases, according to the province’s latest update.
New Brunswick is down to five active cases, and no new ones, with 158 recovered. Prince Edward Island has no active cases, 20 test results pending, and all 27 past cases recovered. Nova Scotia has no active cases, about 1,000 recovered, and 63 deaths, most in one Halifax long term care home outbreak.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen Mcneil, who held the line on lockdown back in April with his endearingly folksy command to “Stay the blaze home,” made clear in a statement that he is now convinced the Atlantic Bubble is a safe plan for local tourism.
“Nova Scotians and Atlantic Canadians have worked hard to flatten the curve and we’re now in a place where we can ease restrictions within our region,” said Mcneil in a statement. “This will allow families to travel and vacation this summer, boosting our tourism and business sectors. We’re looking forward to welcoming our neighbours back.”
Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, acknowledged that the plan can cause people anxiety, but also that for others it will be an important encouragement after so long in lockdown, and in either case her view is that it will be safe.
“We are confident we can move freely without self-isolation,” she said in a press conference.
Others illustrated her point about anxiety. Chris Andrews, for example, singer with the band Shanneyganock, garnered much attention for his post on Facebook: “I can’t for the life of me understand why I live on an island with no cases and I’m not allowed to go to work and Play for any amount of people cause it’s not ok but it’s ok for thousands of people from Atlantic Canada and soon all of Canada to come here and enjoy themselves from places that still have many active cases and not self isolate.”
To many Atlantic Canadians, the pandemic still plausibly looks like a threat from outside, unlike In Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and other places where there has been wide community transmission. Memories are also fresh of the outrage that followed reports about a doctor who travelled from Campbellton, NB, to Quebec and back without 14-day isolation during lockdown in May, and has been blamed for the Campbellton outbreak at a long term care home and among hospital workers.
There have been reports of vandalism and unrest on PEI, where tourism is a leading industry and hospitality a point of pride. Canadian Press reported a trend of “plate shaming,” in which cars with licence plates from other provinces are tagged with vulgar encouragements to leave.