UK Variant found in New Brunswick

At a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Russell confirmed what many New Brunswickers have been fearing: "Today we can confirm the U.K. variant of COVID-19 is in our province," she Dr. Russell.

There are three confirmed cases related of the UK variant in New Brunswick, two in the Zone 2, Saint John-Charlotte County region, and one case in the Miramichi region. Two of the cases are related to travel outside the country and one is related to travel outside the province. New Brunswick is now the fifth province to have residents test positive for the much more contagious UK variant.

“Today’s news further reinforces the need for New Brunswickers to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice,” said Dr. Russell. “These new variants are more contagious, so it is important that we take the necessary precautions now to reduce the transmission of the virus and any of its variants in our communities.”

With the UK variant now in the province, New Brunswickers are coming to terms with the idea that the Orange level of recovery might be as good as it gets for the near future. Recent modifications to the Orange level have been a welcome change for many local businesses and their patrons. In the new orange level customers can now sit with members of their household bubble as well as friends and family members who are on their list of "steady 10" close contacts. The loosened restrictions allowed for local haunts like Honeybeans Cafe in Saint Andrews to once again be a popular meeting place for friends.

"The weekend was a lot busier than we had previously seen in the Red level," said Mary Cunningham, a barista at Honeybeans. "It was nice to see friends getting together again."

Saint Andrews now has a second doctor in town who accepting new patients. After 23 years in Winnipeg, Dr. Julie Levesque-Taylor has returned to her home province of New Brunswick. Although she is originally from Moncton, she has relocated to Chamcook with her husband and her two youngest children and will working as a family physian alongside Dr. Brian Peer at the New Wellness Centre, located in the WC O'Neill Arena.

"This year, there two things--COVID-19 and the new Wellness Centre in Saint Andrews--that were the tipping point in our family returning to New Brunswick sooner than later," said Dr. Levesque-Taylor.

Eight cities around the province raised the Pan-African flag to mark the beginning of Black History Month on Monday. Matthew Martin, who is the President of the New Brunswick Chapter of Black Lives Matter, accompanied Saint John Mayor Don Darling to the flag raising ceremony in Saint John. Martin regularly addresses issues of systemic racism in New Brunswick alongside cohosts Neil Clements on Dr. Timothy Christie on New Brunswickers Want Action on Charlotte County Television. An all-new episode of NBWA is airing on CHCO all this week.