The Saint John region will join Moncton, Sackville, and the rest of the southeast under orange level restrictions as of midnight Friday.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell and Premier Blaine Higgs made the announcement Friday afternoon.

Russell announced nine new cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, two in the Moncton region and seven in Saint John. One Saint John case is in a nursing home, which is being treated as an outbreak and all staff and residents tested.

There are now 51 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 26 in the Moncton or southeast region, and 14 in Saint John. One person is now in hospital with COVID-19.

A provincial release says that the move to orange in the Saint John region was “due to the doubling of cases within two days, several exposure settings including recreational, health and long-term care settings of high vulnerability where there is a risk of community transmission, and reports of situations where some individuals were not complying with public health measures.”

BE PREPARED TO SELF-ISOLATE

Russell said Friday that about 600 people are currently under self-isolation orders in the province. Higgs says 300 of those are in the Saint John region.

Russell advised that all New Brunswickers have a self-isolation plan in place. “You need to be prepared to self isolate for two whole weeks,” said Russell. “Make sure you know who to call on to pick up your groceries and other supplies, manage your businesses, look after your summer camp. Taking this precaution ahead of time will make the transition easier for you and those who rely on you.”

MOST TRANSMISSION HAPPENING IN PRIVATE GATHERINGS

Dr. Russell answered questions about the rationale behind recent changes to orange level restrictions, which see bubbles reduced from two households to one, while certain business and recreation settings are allowed to remain open, with adjusted protocols.

Russell said that within region one and two, the predominant pattern of transmission has been in private or informal gatherings. “There are still some cases related to travel outside of the Atlantic bubble and international travel as well,” she said, “but most of them I’m seeing are private gatherings at this point in time. And so that is why the it is so important that we limit our close contacts.”

“With respect to businesses, I know for a fact that there have not been a lot of scenarios where transmission has happened in businesses, etc. That doesn’t mean to say that we might not still see a lot of that type of transmission in the future,“ said Russell.

“Our phases have been continually revised based on what we’re seeing in terms of transmission patterns, evidence and data,” said Russell.

She also warned of another type of transmission in workplaces, from people going to work with mild symptoms and not getting tested. “We know that’s a problem, so we’re trying to address that as well, with messaging around making sure you get tested even if you have mild symptoms.”

IT’S THE ECONOMY, TOO

Premier Blaine Higgs spoke to the motivation to keep businesses and employment centres open.

In reply to a question about measures in place to help those who might be evicted during the pandemic, Higgs said, “that’s why we’re trying to keep schools going, we’re trying to keep businesses open, so people’s employment continues.”

Higgs put the onus on business owners to ensure that their premises were safe and following protocols. “I’m calling on all businesses, especially the ones where people gather such as restaurants, bars, coffee shops, cinemas and shopping venues, to do everything they can to follow the directions of public health,” said Higgs.

“It’s important that we continue to keep businesses open wherever possible. But in order to be able to do that, we need to be sure that the protocols are being followed, and a plan is in place that keeps a patron safe.”

Higgs encouraged people to support their local businesses. “It’s important. It’s important for our economy. It’s important that we continue to operate as as normally as possible.”

AVOIDING EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

Russell gave a brief reminder how quickly doubling numbers of cases could grow to be unmanageable for New Brunswick’s health care system. “It’s surprising how fast that can happen,” said Russell. “It can happen in a matter of days. So we don’t have the luxury of messing around. We don’t have the luxury of waiting.”

“We know the math, we know the modelling, and we know how important it is that everybody do what they need to do immediately to get this under control,” she said, “so we can go back to the yellow phase as soon as possible.”