Sackville is back in Orange. The change went into effect at midnight Monday night, announced by Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell at yesterday’s COVID-19 briefing by the province.

Russell announced a return to the orange phase for Zone 1, and a return to the Red phase for Zone 4, the Edmundston Region, which had been on lockdown for 15 days.

Russell said case numbers were now trending in the right direction: only two new cases were reported yesterday, both in the Edmundston region.

“That is the lowest daily number that we have reported since New Year’s Day,” said Russell. “And I am so grateful for the work to accomplish all of this that everybody has been doing. And I’m thoroughly impressed.”

While Russell was congratulatory, she also included warnings that this is not over.

“This does not mean that the virus has been eradicated,” said Russell. “It does not mean that people can cast aside their masks and go back to life as it was before the pandemic, and before these outbreaks. What it means is that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in these zones is less than it was two weeks ago, but it is not zero. The risks are still there, and the risks of the variants are still there.”

Yesterday’s low new case count was matched by a drop in testing numbers as well. The province reported just 789 new tests yesterday, with only 234 in Zone 1. That’s the lowest number of single day testing in the province since January 5th, the day before Zone 1 moved into its previous orange phase.

NEW ORANGE ALLOWS FOR A STEADY 10

Zone 1 spent 20 days in the red phase of restrictions, and during that time the rules for orange changed slightly.

Health Minister Dorothy Shephard spoke at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing and gave some details about what the new orange phase of restrictions looks like.

The main change is the Steady 10. During the last orange phase of restrictions, people were restricted to a one household bubble only. Now that household can also include up to ten other close contacts. But, households need to keep a list of those contacts, and they must be mutual.

“Think of it this way,” said Shephard on Monday, “if anyone in your home chooses to go to the home of a friend and spend time with their family of four, those four people are now a part of your household’s Steady 10.”

The stakes are high for the Steady 10. If someone in your household’s Steady 10 contracts COVID-19, you will be required to self-isolate for two weeks.

Other rules for the orange phase, such as what can open and close, remain unchanged. That means that restaurants can have indoor dining again, and gyms and salons can re-open.

VACCINE ROLLOUT CONTINUES

Shephard gave a vaccine update on Monday, with news that as of February 6th, 18,643 doses of the vaccine had been administered in New Brunswick.

That’s an increase of just 1366 from the previous week, which shows a bit of a slow down, as in previous weeks upwards of 3000 shots were given.

The lower number of new shots could be because of a drop in delivery of the vaccine the previous week. But in the past week, the province received another 4175 doses of vaccine, and now has a reserve of just over 7000 doses.

As of Saturday, there are 5347 people fully vaccinated with two doses, and just shy of 8000 people waiting on a second dose.

Shepard indicated the speed of the continued rollout would largely be determined by the rate that doses are delivered to the province.

For a more detailed breakdown of what orange phase rules are at play, check here: