David Coon is the leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick. (Submitted)
Just over a week after the province entered the green level, promptly removing all pandemic restrictions, the leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick is calling for Premier Blaine Higgs to re-institute some of the isolation requirements.
David Coon believes the rising case count could take a downward trajectory if the Higgs Government implements isolation requirements for unvaccinated travellers from outside of the Atlantic provinces and the Avignon, Matapédia and Témiscouata regions of Quebec.
“Considering the severeness of the Delta variant, to protect New Brunswickers, the Premier must require travelers who have chosen not to be vaccinated to isolate upon arrival in New Brunswick,” said Coon.
The Fredericton South MLA does not believe the province should stray from the rigid approach that made New Brunswick enviable during the pandemic.
“For a year and a half, we have kept case counts and hospitalizations down in New Brunswick and across Atlantic Canada. As a province, we must do our part to ensure this continues,” he said.
Since the move to green, Public Health has reported 70 new cases of COVID-19, which is higher than the total case count for all of July.
“Given the explosion of cases of the Delta variant that we have seen in places with high vaccination rates, such as the United Kingdom, it is imperative that the Premier acts now,” said Coon. “We can’t afford to wait until there are significant hospitalizations before government acts. The chance to avoid this is right now by ensuring visitors from outside our region are fully vaccinated or have isolated appropriately if they are not.”
Implementing the isolation rules that Coon suggests would put New Brunswick in a similar situatioin as the other Atlantic provinces. In Newfoundland and Labrador these travellers must isolate for at least a week, in P.E.I it’s eight days and in Nova Scotia it’s up to two weeks.
