Just days after new travel restrictions were introduced for the province, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell announced a confirmed case of the COVID-19 India variant known as b1617 has been identified in New Brunswick in Zone 3, the Fredericton region. 

“With the arrival of this more aggressive variant, now more than ever, New Brunswickers must be vigilant and follow all Public Health measures to reduce the spread and protect our health-care system,” said Dr. Russell.

Dr. Russell also announced the death of person in their 20s to COVID-19 UK variant, the youngest New Brunswicker to die from COVID-19 so far. 

“This news is never easy to hear and I urge everyone to keep the grieving family and friends of this individual in their thoughts and prayers,” said Dr. Russell. “This is the youngest person we have lost in our province to COVID-19 and it is a sad reminder that no one is immune to this virus.”

At the press conference, Premier Blaine Higgs announced that New Brunswickers age 60 and up are now eligible to book a vaccine appointment. He also defended the introduction of isolation hotels for leisure travellers returning to the province that went into effect over the weekend, a move he believes is necessary in light of the presence of more aggressive variants in New Brunswick.

“We are seeing what is happening in Ontario right now, where health-care professionals are being forced to make heartbreaking choices about who receives care and who doesn’t,” said Higgs. “We can’t let that happen here.”

Higgs stressed that these isolation hotels are for people returning to the province from leisure travel, as well as individuals moving to New Brunswick and business travellers who are not rotational workers, truck drivers or regular cross-border commuters.

"We asked people not to travel," said Higgs.

Finally, Patty Borthwick of St. George lost her daughter Hillary Hooper to suicide in December of 2020. Hillary struggled with the healthcare system to find proper help to find suitable mental health care and ultimately ended her own life in the Saint John Regional Hospital in December. To honour Hillary's memory and to celebrate what would have been her 28th birthday, Borthwick organized a food drive called Hillary's Hope for Hunger on Saturday in downtown St. George with all proceeds going to the St. George and Area foodbank. The event was also Borthwick's way of raising suicide awareness in the community. The food drive raised almost $20,000 for the food bank, the largest single donation it has received in its history.