No Firm Date In Sight For Atlantic Bubble Opening
HALIFAX — The premiers of the Atlantic provinces won’t make a decision about reopening the Atlantic Bubble any time soon.
During an April 27 teleconference, the four provincial leaders agreed to keep travel restrictions at provincial borders in place as the latest outbreak of Covid-19 rages in Nova Scotia.
“Recent outbreaks of Covid-19, accelerated by emerging variants of concern, have made it necessary to maintain restrictions on non-essential travel within the Atlantic region,” premiers Blaine Higgs, Iain Rankin, Dennis King, and Andrew Furey said in a joint statement released April 28.
April 29, Nova Scotia reported 70 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total active cases in the province to a record-high 548.
April 28, there were 122 active cases in New Brunswick, 11 active cases in PEI, and 27 active cases in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In their statement, the premiers said they will revisit opening the Atlantic Bubble “when the threat of further outbreaks has been reduced, based on advice from the region’s chief medical officers of health.”
The premiers added they are “optimistic” travel within Atlantic Canada will resume “by summer.”
They said the continuing vaccine rollout will help protect against Covid-19’s spread and encouraged all Atlantic Canadians to get vaccinated.
The premiers had initially planned to relax travel restrictions between some Atlantic provinces by April 19, although the date was always conditional on case numbers staying low.
When the third wave of Covid-19 hit the region, premiers initially pushed the opening date to May 3.
Now, there appears to be no firm date in mind for when the bubble will reopen.