Fredericton goes to red phase
On Tuesday 19th, the Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John areas were put under a more restrictive mode due to the increasing numbers of their covid cases, as there was also another death registered.
Around the afternoon on the same day, The Chief Medical Officer of Health made a brief clear streaming about the ongoing situation for the territories, stating that there would be measures to follow to stop the “avalanche of cases we are seeing across our borders.”
Premier Blaine Higgs also addressed the topic, referring to a possible “full lockdown” if cases were to rise once again even with the ongoing measurements. The lockdown would also include schools.
“We have never been in a situation like this since the pandemic began,” Higgs said. “I cannot stress enough that this is a critical moment. … Stay home as much as you possibly can and avoid interacting with people outside your household bubble.”
Now, under the red phase, many businesses must remain close, this could include entertainment centers, gyms and any recreational small business. Restaurants must use drive-thru or take out options since the diners must remain closed until further notice. Also, there were changes in the medical field, referring to the delay of non-urgent medical procedures and elective surgeries.
The rest of non-essential business such as the retailers which were shut down in march were allowed to remain open under the current read level.
Schools on the other side have been given a set of new instructions during the red phase, these include:
- Students and staff must remain home if any symptom of COVID-19 appears
- School staff will be monitored for COVID-19 every day at work
- If a case were to be detected in the red phase, the school will be closed for around three days for the contact tracing to take place. The school would also become a testing place for the staff members.
All the new guidelines are being enforced to ensure safety and decrease the number of cases. But under the circumstances, all work is now done remotely and the citizens must keep their social distancing at all costs for the phase to go by as fast as possible.
The health measurements are expected to continue until the Fredericton region returns to a yellow phase.
