New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs speaks with the media in Fredericton, on Feb. 17, 2020.Stephen MacGillivray/The Canadian Press
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says he expects his province’s economy to almost fully recover from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic by the fall or early next year.
Higgs made that upbeat prediction Friday as the province announced further loosening of public health restrictions for all but one region.
The premier also pledged to allow virtually every New Brunswick business to reopen by next Friday, and he recommitted to loosening travel restrictions between the four Atlantic provinces by early next month.
“We want to get back to being a nation,” Higgs told a virtual news conference in Fredericton. “We want to get back to our friends, relatives and back to travelling – and we want to get the airports up and running.”
The premier said about two-thirds of the province’s businesses were already back in operation, which he said was more than any other province. As well, he said 80 per cent of the province’s daycare facilities are now open.
“We’re moving quickly on the economic side,” he said. “We’ve seen great results.”
Higgs cited economic forecasts that he said are pointing to a 95 per cent recovery rate by late fall or early 2021.
“But it depends on what happens in the fall and the second wave and all that,” he said. “Right now, I feel good about where we are, and I feel good about where we’re going.”
Meanwhile, the province’s chief medical officer of health, Jennifer Russell, said the four Atlantic provinces are now “fine-tuning the details” of creating an “Atlantic bubble” that would allow for more interprovincial travel.
However, Higgs went further, suggesting travel restrictions across the country could start falling away by mid-July.
“We want our country back together again,” he said. “But we need to do it in stages that … will allow us to manage any potential outbreaks.”
Provincial health officials reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The number of confirmed cases held at 164 with 135 of those cases now in the recovered category – including 14 related to the outbreak in the Campbellton region.
Under New Brunswick’s latest recovery rules, Canadian residents can now visit family members or properties they own in the province, provided they self-isolate for 14 days – or the duration of their visit if it is less than two weeks.
As well, New Brunswick residents no longer need to self-isolate when returning from work in another Canadian province or territory.
All organized sports will resume with appropriate physical distancing and sanitizing. Overnight camps will reopen and indoor visits will resume at long-term care facilities for one visitor at a time, or two if one of the visitors needs help.
The cap on the number of people who can gather in controlled venues – including churches, swimming pools and rinks – has been lifted, but crowd numbers will be limited by the ability to maintain physical distancing.
Those organizing indoor events with controlled entry or seating are required to record each attendee’s contact information to allow for tracing should there be a COVID-19 exposure.
The new easing doesn’t apply to the Campbellton area in northern New Brunswick, known as Zone 5, because that region is still dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.
For now, people in that area are limited to a two-household bubble, and non-regulated health businesses and personal services businesses – including barbers and tattoo parlours – must remain shut.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising to deliver a 'snapshot' of the federal government's finances in the House of Commons on July 8.
The Canadian Press
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