Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister, John Haggie said i’s unlikely NL’s borders will open to more travellers before July is out.
In the most concrete assertion to the date that the provincial government has backed away from a Friday border expansion.
After discussions among the Chief Medical Officers of health in Atlantic Canada,
Haggie told CBC St. John’s morning show not to expect non-essential travel from outside the region to be allowed as of Friday.
“I would be very surprised to see much significant movement before the end of this month,” said Haggie.
Upon announcing the Atlantic Bubble on June 24, Premier Dwight Ball floated July 17 as a date to possibly allow non- essential Canadian travellers from outside that bubble to arrive without requiring a written exemption and a 14 day isolation period. Since that time, however, he and other officials have walked back from that date.
Haggie empathized on Tuesday that the 17th “was simply arithmetic” coming 14 days after the July 3 opening of the Atlantic bubble. Two weeks is the incubation of the virus, and the period of time the province has used in the past to transition between the easing of public health restriction.
Since the bubble began, all 4 provinces within it have reported new cases of COVID-19, although in all cases health officials have stressed the cases have sprung from travel outside of the region.
“Our challenge now is what’s the next sensible step and when should that be taken, says Haggie.
Haggie did point declining numbers across the country as encouraging, but officials here are watching other jurisdictions’ action’s, noting that Ontario is still keeping its most populous areas in and around Toronto lockdown despite easing restrictions elsewhere.