New Brunswick will provide a COVID-19 update on Tuesday as officials are expected to announce a decision on whether more regions in the province will be moved to the red phase of the COVID-19 recovery plan.
Premier Blaine Higgs will be joined by Dr. Jennifer Russell for the 3:30 p.m. briefing.
On Sunday, chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell announced the Edmundston health zone, known as Zone 4, would transition to red phase after a spike in cases there, including 24 of the 36 new cases announced in the province at the time.
The province suggested Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton regions could move to red phase within a matter of days if the coronavirus trajectory doesn’t change.
A number of schools across the province reported cases of COVID-19 in the last two weeks. Last week, those schools included: Kennebecasis Valley High School in Quispamsis; Belleisle Elementary School in Springfield; Millidgeville North School in Saint John; and Riverview East School and Caledonia Regional High School in Hillsborough.
Quispamsis Middle School, École Élémentaire Sacré-Coeur and Happy Feet daycare in Grand Falls also confirmed positive cases on Sunday.
Under red zone parameters, New Brunswick’s initial COVID-19 recovery plan was to switch to online learning, but that has now changed as health officials announced schools in Zone 4 will remain open.
Global News reported on Monday that some families and teachers are reacting with disappointment over that change.
The New Brunswick Teachers Federation issued a letter Monday, saying that while some discussions had taken place about adjustments to the Return to School plan, the union was not made aware of the final changes until “minutes” before Education Minister Dominic Cardy spoke on Sunday.
