NB Public Health Initiates ""Red circuit breaker" in Edmundston Area in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak

A section of Zone 4 (Edmundston region), including Edmundston and the upper Madawaska region, will return to the Red level of Recovery, effective at 6 pm on Thursday, March 25, 2021. The area will remain in the Revel for at least four days while mass testing for asymptomatic people takes place on March 25 and 26 to determine how widespread the outbreak in Zone 4 currently is. At a press conference on Thursday, Public Health announced 30 new cases of COVID-19 in the province in a single day, 24 of which are in the Edmundston region. With growing concern over variants and spread being discovered in settings where food is consumed, Public Health is currently in the process of mass testing asymptomatic people to best assess the severity of Zone 4's outbreak.

“Depending on our findings, this measure could be extended for a longer period of time and it may need to be expanded to cover the rest of Zone 4,” said Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health. “I am appealing directly to the people of the Edmundston area to stay within their household bubble, wear a mask, maintain two metres of physical distance in public and follow all other public health measures.”

In the Red level of recovery, residents must stick to a single-household bubble and travel in and outside of the Red area known as the "Red circuit breaker" is not allowed.

“I encourage everyone who has no symptoms and is not self-isolating to get tested at one of the mass testing clinics being held today and tomorrow,” said Health Minister Dorothy Shephard. “No appointment is necessary, and the more people who get tested, the better we will be able to determine what steps are needed to get the situation under control.”