At the COVID-19 press conference on Tuesday, March 9, premier Iain Rankin spoke words that haven’t been uttered in a few months: “Atlantic Bubble.” And Rankin didn’t bring it up because he was asked by a reporter–he mentioned the bubble of his own accord during his opening statement.
“I will be having a discussion with my fellow Maritime premiers next week to discuss next steps regarding our borders as we consider re-establishing the Maritime bubble in the weeks ahead,” he said. “As always, we will be guided by public health as safety is always our primary concern.”
The last time the Nova Scotia’s borders were open for travel without a mandatory 14-day self-isolation was January 8 for New Brunswick, and February 29 for Newfoundland. (While they are technically still open for travel from Prince Edward Island, right now PEI makes Nova Scotia travellers isolate.) And the true Atlantic bubble of unrestricted movement between all four provinces hasn’t existed since November 23, 2020, when Newfoundland first pulled out.
But don’t count on the next version being an Atlantic Bubble, just a Maritime one–meaning Newfoundland is excluded–to start. “I had preliminary discussions just with the Maritime provinces,” said Rankin. “I haven’t contemplated Newfoundland at all at this point.”
As of March 10, Newfoundland has 80 active COVID-19 cases, while Nova Scotia has 24, PEI has 28 and New Brunswick has 34. “Obviously, number one needs to be ensuring that we have full comfort from all three province’s public health departments,” said Rankin.
In New Brunswick, premier Blaine Higgs told CBC on Tuesday night that he was hopeful about the bubble’s return. “We’re both thinking that if things stay as they are and continue to improve in our respective provinces, that we’d be looking at some time maybe in late April,” Higgs said.
Chief medical officer of health Robert Strang is also involved in these chats, and has been having weekly discussions with the other provinces’ health experts since the early days of C19. “We had a conversation on this on Monday,” Strang said Tuesday. “We clearly know that Newfoundland is in a different position, so they have a longer road to recovery. Our job is to talk at our level on public health and give a common advice to our premiers.”
Although there’s no set date for when the Maritime bubble could be reinstated, Rankin said more information will be provided next week.
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This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2021.
