Tighter travel restrictions
Three new COVID-19 cases in the province announced on Monday
P.E.I. is imposing tightened travel restrictions as COVID19 case counts rise across Canada.
Premier Dennis King, who spoke at an unscheduled media briefing at noon Monday, said the news of the past few days is indicative of what is happening across the country.
“Though we have been doing very, very well in this province, we are not totally insulated from the COVID19 virus or its variants,” said King. “We haven’t been released from COVID’s tight grip yet, and much more work remains.”
Travel outside P.E.I. continues to be the biggest risk factor for COVID-19 in P.E.I., said chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison at the briefing, noting eight travel-related cases were diagnosed in P.E.I. in the last week and adding it’s time to revisit the game plan.
Given the current situation, Morrison said P.E.I. will be taking steps to tighten border measures until May 17.
Travel restrictions include advising seasonal residents with approved travel plans to defer their arrival in the province. Seasonal residents can continue to apply to come to P.E.I., but their tentative travel dates will be after May 17, said Morrison.
Family connection applications for seasonal residents are paused for the next four weeks.
People relocating to P.E.I. for work or school purposes from outside the Atlantic provinces will require a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test from within 72 hours of arrival. A 14-day self-isolation and further testing will be required once in P.E.I.
Rotational workers and truck drivers will need to self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test, regardless of their vaccination status.
Workers from outside Atlantic Canada will continue to
need pre-travel approval and now require proof of a negative pre-departure test from within 72 hours of arrival. Those workers will need to self-isolate until they receive a negative test result before they can go to work. They’ll also have to agree to be tested every second day for the first 14 days in P.E.I.
Procedures for travel to P.E.I. for compassionate reasons, including people from outside Atlantic Canada, will remain unchanged. The family connections travel stream will stay the same as well.
There are no changes to procedures for workers or students coming to P.E.I. from within the
Atlantic provinces.
The province will be stepping up enforcement measures, as well as testing at entry points, she said.
Morrison is also recommending Islanders limit interprovincial travel unless for essential purposes.
Morrison said P.E.I. needs to maintain a high degree of caution until more people are vaccinated.
“We need to buy more time,” she said.
Morrison also announced three new cases in P.E.I. at the briefing. Morrison said one of the new cases is someone in their 30s who travelled outside the Atlantic region and is a close contact of a previously announced case.
The other two cases are in their 20s and travelled outside the region.
All cases are self-isolating, Morrison said.
The latest cases come on the heels of two previously announced cases being hospitalized, including one who is in intensive care.
Both patients are at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Dr. Michael Gardam, CEO of Health P.E.I., also attended the news briefing. He said the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown has prepared one unit and the intensive care unit to receive COVID19 patients.
Both Morrison and King asked Islanders to respect the privacy of the patients.
When questioned, Morrison did not elaborate on the condition of the two people in hospital nor if the cases were linked to essential travel or Easter travel.
Morrison said four of four recent cases that were sent for testing have been confirmed as the variant of concern – B.1.1.7.
It’s not surprising to learn variants are becoming increasingly prevalent in P.E.I. given the situation in the rest of the country, Morrison said.
During the briefing, Morrison said in the past week the number of confirmed cases in Canada is up 21 per cent and more than 52,000 of those are new variants.
She also said hospitalizations, intensive-care unit cases and deaths are up across the country.
“Put simply, the numbers are going in the wrong direction,” she said.