Higgs told reporters Tuesday that it would be “good” if the Ministry of Education and Preschool Development adopted its own mask protocol across the province. He also said he did not want to be unconscious last week when he suggested that everyone in New Brunswick would probably be infected with COVID-19 eventually. The Prime Minister’s comments on schools represent a change after weeks of debate and resentment among some parents over the end of all pandemic protection measures on March 14, including the end of compulsory school masks. Higgs also said he did not want to appear unconscious during a press conference on Friday, when he said it was possible for “all of us to catch COVID one way or another”. (CBC News)
Education Minister Dominic Cardy has repeatedly said his department was obliged to follow the Public Health recommendation to end all measures. “I continue to be reluctant to go against the recommendations of Public Health,” Cardy said in a Twitter post on March 9. “I will continue to wear a mask indoors and support others who do the same.” At the same time, Health Secretary Dorothy Shephard stressed that different institutions in the county, including the district court, the University of New Brunswick and the Legislative Assembly itself, have the right to set their own rules for the mask. Higgs was asked on Tuesday why individual school principals or district education councils could not make the same decision. Education Minister Dominic Cardy said publicly that he was obliged to follow the recommendations for Public Health, but that he supported anyone who continued to wear a mask. (Ed Hunter / CBC)
“You could say if the Ministry of Education as such made this kind of protocol change, it would be okay,” he said. But he added that “it would be difficult and confusing if each school decided to do its own thing. “As a general philosophy it would be something that should be supported by the department as a whole, so as not to confuse people across the province about what exactly our policy is and today our policy is clearly the one proposed by Public Health. . “ Higgs also tried to explain on Tuesday what he meant last week when he said “we probably know at the end of the day, we will all stick to COVID one way or another and it may not be what we think COVID is, we will think that it is cold “. The comment provoked strong reactions, especially among people who are immunosuppressed or otherwise at risk for severe COVID symptoms. “I know people felt unconscious,” Higgs said Tuesday. “I did not mean it that way.” But the prime minister also defended the comment, saying the current variants of COVID are highly contagious and society would probably not tolerate the kind of lock-ups needed to stop it. Given this, “it will go through the communities, and we see it. … It’s kind of the reality of what we’re facing,” he said. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Russell will not say Tuesday if she expects the New Brunswickers “will all stick to COVID,” the prime minister said. The General Director of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell says the increase in hospitalizations now observed was expected after the restrictions were lifted on March 14. (CBC)
“There is no doubt at the moment that there is a high risk of people being exposed to COVID. I can say that for sure.” But he said that if people followed the best-known practices – vaccinations, wearing a mask, distancing themselves, washing their hands and staying home when they were sick – it would “prevent everyone from catching COVID”. Russell said she agreed with Shephard’s comments that “we know a sixth wave is coming”, but said the current increase in hospitalizations and cases represents the end of the fifth wave of COVID in New Brunswick. He said the province’s winter plan has managed to calm the tide, but the result is that it has spread over a longer period of time and is still receding. The COVID-19 weekly update on Tuesday reported 13 new hospitalizations, bringing the total to 142 in the province. More than 7,500 new cases have also been reported, although experts believe that not all cases are reported and counted. Russell said the current increase in cases was expected during the lifting of the measures and will peak and decrease over the next two weeks. “That is the hope,” he said.