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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-mandatory-masks-in-place-mid-october-1.5747584
Mandatory mask order may — or may not — be coming by Oct. 8, says Higgs
Premier holds COVID-19 briefing, announces changes at borders within Atlantic bubble
· CBC News· Posted: Oct 02, 2020 9:02 AM AT
Premier Blaine Higgs's position on mandatory masks was unclear during Friday's COVID-19 briefing in Fredericton. (CBC)
New Brunswick may — or may not — make wearing masks mandatory in public as early as next week, says Premier Blaine Higgs.
Early Friday morning, Higgs told CBC masks would soon be required, likely by mid-October, if not sooner.
"We're going to lead up to it, we're kind of building into it, working with the communities, working with the businesses, staging people to become more diligent and get into that program," he said.
During a COVID-19 briefing at 11 a.m., however, Higgs stepped back from that.
"Although I prefer not to make mask use mandatory in public spaces, I know that it may soon be necessary — even as early as Oct. 8," he told reporters, citing the recent surge in cases in Quebec and Maine.
Later, when asked to clarify, he said: "There is a possibility we will implement this next week. It could be a week or two out. … I guess the only clarity here I'll add, it could be as early as Oct. 8, or it could be delayed a few weeks, but I would suggest that mandatory masks are coming soon into our province."
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said more New Brunswick workers are getting into the habit of wearing a mask, which is encouraging. "But to protect our most vulnerable, we need to stay well ahead of the course of this pandemic.
"We will be monitoring mask use across the province, and I will not hesitate to recommend a mandatory order if this becomes necessary," she said.
Masks could be the rule as early as Oct. 8 in New Brunswick, says Premier Blaine Higgs, although he's reluctant to make the order. 1:17
In a subsequent news release, Higgs "reminded" New Brunswickers that wearing a face mask in public when physical distancing is not possible is mandatory under the province's state of emergency order.
If New Brunswickers do not comply with the emergency order by wearing masks when required, a mandatory mask policy "could be implemented" as soon as Oct. 8, according to the release.
"Staying in the Yellow level of recovery is essential to maintaining health, and keeping our economy and schools open," Higgs said in a statement.
This isn't the first time the government's messaging about masks has been unclear.
On June 5, the government announced face coverings would be required to enter buildings open to the general public, but it reversed the decision the next day.
"Cabinet has reviewed the decision and it was not the intent to place an additional expectation on businesses or the public regarding wearing a face covering in a public space," it said in a news release at the time.
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have already implemented mandatory orders.
Higgs acknowledged Friday he expects most New Brunswickers are anticipating the province will follow suit.
It was the first COVID-19 briefing in more than six weeks.
Higgs told CBC News earlier Friday morning that wearing masks in indoor public areas would be mandatory by mid-October if not sooner. (Submitted by Codiac Transpo)
No new cases of COVID-19 were recorded for the seventh day in a row Friday and one more case has recovered.
There are now five active cases of the respiratory disease in the province — three in the Moncton region (Zone 1), one is attributed to the Fredericton region (Zone 3), although the infected person is actually in Ontario recovering, and one is in the Bathurst region (Zone 6).
An infected Quebec resident who works in Campbellton is being counted in the Quebec numbers. Contact tracing is being conducted in New Brunswick.
A total of 661 COVID-19 tests were completed Thursday, bringing the total number of tests conducted since the pandemic began in March to 78,635.
There have been 200 cases of COVID-19 in the province to date, with 193 recoveries and two deaths.
Support for mandatory order
The premier said Friday the discussion about making masks mandatory was a big topic at COVID-19 all-party cabinet committee Thursday.
"It's being driven by the situation in our neighbouring provinces."
Green Party Leader David Coon and Roger Melanson, Interim Leader of the Liberal Party said they both supported the mandatory mask requirement.
"We've got to move to the point where where everyone's wearing masks in indoor public spaces with cases of COVID-19 surging on the other side of the Atlantic bubble and the incredible success we've had in New Brunswick and throughout the Atlantic bubble, we don't want to jeopardize that," said Coon.
Melanson, who didn't attend Thursday's meeting said his party will support it.
"Wearing a mask, if public health has made that recommendation in public spaces, we would support that."
But People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin said he's not sure the timing is right on mandatory masks, seeing that New Brunswick is doing exceptionally well right now.
"My take on it is look if, you know, we see an uptick in cases and government has to clamp down a little bit harder and make them mandatory, I would certainly support that."
Changes to bubble border screening
New Brunswick officials will no longer screen travellers entering the province from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in vehicles, starting Oct. 8, Higgs announced on Friday.
Instead, some of the peace officers will be redeployed to the borders with Quebec and Maine, which currently pose a bigger threat, he said.
"We have been able to reopen businesses and reopen our schools in an effective manner. The threat, however, is once again literally at our doorstep."
Quebec was "making good progress" just over a month ago, said Higgs. But two days ago, that province reported 933 new cases in a single day, and 12 deaths occurred between Sept. 24 and Sept. 29.
Premier Blaine Higgs says New Brunswick is abandoning the screening checkpoints for travellers from P.E.I. and Nova Scotia Brunswick 1:13
In Baileyville, Maine, just across the St. Stephen border, a mill worker at Woodland Pulp tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning. Earlier this week, seven out-of-state contractors who were working on the fibre line during the mill's annual maintenance operation also tested positive.
The worker who tested positive lives in Maine, but seven New Brunswick residents work at the mill, a company spokesperson confirmed to CBC News.
All the workers at Woodland and its two sister companies, St. Croix Tissue and St. Croix Chipping, are now being tested for the virus.
"These situations drive home how close the virus still is and how quickly things can change," the premier said.
To that end, some of the redeployed peace officers will focus on other efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as ensuring compliance with 14-day self-isolation requirements and guidelines regarding gatherings and business operations, he said.
Border measures will remain in place for travellers from outside Atlantic provinces, he added.
Trick or treat or not?
While no specifics were revealed during the panel discussion, Coon said Halloween would be a happy one for everyone.
Austin agreed, saying it was important to allow society to carry on as much as possible as long as the recommendations of Public Health were followed.
"I think right now it's just important that society continues on, you know, with in mind that we are still in a pandemic and to do the right thing."
Melanson said if the recommendation is to go ahead with Halloween, all precautions will have to be taken.
"And at the end of the day, it's the parents' decisions to and with their children to decide if yes or no they would want to do trick or treating, if that's the decision to be allowed."
When rules are violated
When a member of the audience complained that some young people are holding large gatherings and ignoring the precautions laid down by Public Health, Higgs said it seems some people have forgotten there is a pandemic.
"We have seen this in other provinces and we've seen the result. We've seen Quebec locked down, essentially in lockdown now, for the next 28 days."
Higgs said the province will intervene when the mandatory emergency order is being violated, but this will be done in a way that persuades people to be part of the solution rather than a bigger problem.
Melanson said people still have to take precautions.
"We're starting to see that around us outside New Brunswick. We're not isolated totally from what's happening outside."
With files from Information Morning Fredericton
501 Comments
The eub helping themselves again?
Why is any of this being discussed? This is all going the wrong way. You ought to be discussing how to do test on arrival and open the province. This is not April, the death rate on Canada is extremely low; It's 96% lower than May. 99% lower if one is in New York State. Idiocy.
Methinks over the course of the course of the next four years it should become commonly known as Higgy's State N'esy Pas?
We are so fortunate to live where we do, the rest of Canada is envious of the Atlantic bubble.
No, we are not being asked, we are being told.
ONE.
Who the heck are we protecting ourselves from or who are we protecting from us if we wear face masks?
You can't catch Covid-19 from someone who doesn't have it.
I take it you would like to gamble and roll the dice and hope that we don't get a super spreader that would send the entire province back into a lockdown. Me, I don't want to take that chance and will happily wear a mask
How much sickness can you hide behind a mask?
It is possible that an asteroid will crash into the Earth in the coming days, destroy a nuclear power plant or weapons facility, and trigger a chain of events that will lead to the destruction of almost all human life on the planet.
But it's very unlikely based on the best available evidence and so we do not hunker down in concrete bunkers carved into the sides of mountains with everything needed to survive a nuclear winter and restart human civilization later.
We roll the dice. The odds are with us.
Ditto for Covid-19 planning. It only makes sense to plan for the reasonable dangers and not every single possible far-fetched contingency.
In northern New Brunswick where there is only one case of Covid-19, the risk of catching the sickness through casual contact in public spaces is as close to zero as it can come without actually being zero.
That's why mandating face masks in public in northern New Brunswick at this time is idiotic. It would only fuel fear and anxiety and lead people to conclude the situation is much worse than it actually is
While we are in a free democratic society, that means we either follow the rule of law or we face the consequences. Next election, you can extract your pound of flesh by not voting for the party that imposed the order, until then, To bad!
So for those die hard anti maskers ( excluding folks with medical conditions that would cause peril) get over yourself. You will not have a choice.
But yes, you can refuse, be fined, fight the fine in court and lose at the end of the day.
If it wasn't so sad it would be hilarious.
Sure we do, we leave and return when the lunacy ends.
"If it wasn't so sad it would be hilarious."
Agreed, and it's hilarious the so many restrictions remain given the extensive data that now exists. The way the government is acting, one would think its still March.
Do you remember T shirts that you could once get that said "I'm with stupid"?
We should print up some blue ones that say "I voted stupid".
That wouldn't change they would still refuse to pay them.
This is the old tried and true Higgy Waffle Dance. How many times has he done this before? He Waffle Danced his way around Hospital ER closures and a bunch of other things that don't come to mind at this moment but I am sure some folks out there can help me out. Can you name any other Higgy Waffle Dances?
Not fit to lead a boy scout troop.
5-You already have something that protects you from others called “your personality.”
4-You want to try one of those cool new ventilators at the hospital.
3-You’re a millennial, and you got tired of constantly having to remove your mask to take your 5,000 daily selfies.
2-It makes it hard to use the breathalyzer that starts your car.
1-You’re a Kardashian. What’s one more virus?