Saint John Enters ‘Circuit Breaker’ Friday Night
SAINT JOHN – Areas of the province’s Zone 2, including Saint John, will enter a circuit breaker, as health officials are concerned about growing Covid-19 cases.
During a provincial briefing, Premier Blaine Higgs announced that beginning Friday, October 29, at 6 p.m. areas of Zone 2, including Saint John and Kings County will enter a two-week circuit breaker.
“Sadly, we know that there are some deaths that come from those who are hospitalized due to Covid-19, which is why it is so important to get control of hospitalizations,” said Higgs. “From several weeks ago, when circuit breakers were first introduced, the number of active cases has dropped by 50 per cent and the number of hospitalizations has declined by nearly one-third. However, there remains a strain on the hospital system due to the resources required to care for a Covid patient.”
The circuit breaker restrictions will include the following:
- To further limit the spread of the virus and reduce further hospitalizations, gatherings at private homes inside or outside with anyone who does not live at that home is not permitted, with a few exceptions. A single household includes individuals living together. It can be extended to include caregivers for any of those people, plus any parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild of those people who requires support, plus any one additional person who lives alone at another address who requires support.
- There are no restrictions on fully vaccinated people gathering at businesses, events and services where proof of full vaccination with a government-issued ID is required (e.g. Museums, cinemas, theatres, bingo halls, casinos, amusement centres, arenas, game rooms, pools halls, live entertainment venues, weddings, funerals, gyms, yoga studios, restaurants, bars and similar venues). At these venues, individuals need to wear a mask indoors except while eating or drinking.
- Travel to or from circuit breaker regions is restricted, except for those who must travel for essential reasons, including work, health services, child custody, childcare, or post-secondary education, or travel to events where proof of vaccination is required.
- All schools will remain open unless advised otherwise by Public Health. Students in circuit breaker communities can participate in school sports and extracurricular activities, following the Healthy and Safe School guidelines. Teams and extracurricular groups will be permitted to travel within New Brunswick, including travel in and out of circuit breaker communities. All these activities continue to be subject to guidance provided in the mandatory order. Spectators are permitted to attend school-related events provided they follow masking, physical distancing and any other operational requirements set out by schools or districts.
- All businesses can remain open for regular operations but must follow Mandatory Order measures. This includes those that are not required to see proof of vaccination such as hair salons, retail and grocery, and those that are required to request proof of vaccination such as restaurants and entertainment venues.
The circuit breaker still remains in place for the Moncton region (Zone 2), including Sainte-Anne-de-Kent and including Havelock in Zone 2, and the northern portion of Zone 3 from and including Deerville and Florenceville-Bristol, however, excludes Hayesville and Parker Ridge; and all of the Edmundston region (Zone 4).
New Brunswick Public Health reported 69 new cases of Covid-19 and two virus-related deaths.
This brings the total amount of virus-related deaths in the province to 114. Thirty-one people are getting treated in hospital, with 16 in an intensive care unit. The active caseload now stands at 549 after 51 recoveries.