Atlantic Canadians proud of their bubble

It’s garnered everything from praise to scorn, but the “Atlantic bubble” has proven to be a fortress against rising COVID-19 rates across Canada, and residents are increasingly inclined to keep it that way.

A survey conducted by Narrative Research at the end of September suggests four in five residents in the region want nothing to do with easing border restrictions with the rest of the country. That’s up four per cent from a similar poll in August.

In the lead-up to the opening of Atlantic borders on July 3, many people in Newfoundland and Labrador remained skeptical — so much so that Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald felt a need to offer reassurance.

“These are challenging and uncertain times, and uncertainty breeds fear, there’s no doubt of that,” Fitzgerald said in a June 30 video briefing. “But our choices must reflect the science and not our fears. We have trusted the science to get us where we are today and we must continue to do so.”

Newfoundland and Labrador’s travel rules are the most strict in the region, demanding not only that everyone self-isolate for 14 days, but banning non-resident travellers from entering unless they have applied for a travel exemption.

Health Minister Dr. John Haggie says the provincial and regional success in keeping the coronavirus at bay is turning heads in Canada and beyond.

In September, The National Post’s Sharon Kirkey noted how the Atlantic bubble has won the region the nickname of being North America’s New Zealand — a reference to the small island nation that crushed spread of the virus early on.