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The second iteration of the Atlantic bubble will begin by April 19, the Council of Atlantic Premiers announced on Thursday.
“While COVID-19 remains a serious concern, premiers are encouraged by Atlantic Canadians’ adherence to public health measures, the containment of regional outbreaks, and the progress in rolling out vaccines,” the council said in a release.
“Premiers are grateful to front-line workers for their continued efforts and the ongoing dedication of Atlantic Canadians in helping to contain the spread of the virus.”
The opening of the bubble, which allows people in the four Atlantic provinces to travel within the region with no self-isolation requirement, is “conditional upon COVID-19 case numbers remaining low in the region, containment of outbreaks, and ongoing advice from Atlantic Chief Medical Officers of Health,” the council said.
N.L. participation conditional
While there were initial discussions of opening a ‘Maritime bubble’ and excluding Newfoundland and Labrador at first following a large spike in cases last month, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin said Thursday that province will be included in the bubble this year.
“Their cases have come down over time, and now they’re down where New Brunswick is,” he said.
The Council of Atlantic Premiers said Newfoundland and Labrador’s participation in the bubble “is conditional on continued progress in easing its provincial alert-level restrictions.”
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Last summer, the four provinces allowed free travel across their borders with no need for a 14-day self isolation period. Those restrictions were reinstated after an increase in cases.
Rankin said with the second version of the Atlantic bubble, they hope to achieve “more normalcy, commerce, people being able to visit their friends and family.”
“I think for a long time we’ve been able to keep our borders tight, and that’s proven successful and the previous Atlantic bubble was very successful so I’m eager to see that happen.”
‘It’s huge,’ business owner says
The reopening of the bubble came as welcome news to Nico Manos, the co-owner of the Lawrencetown Surf Company in Lawrencetown, N.S.
“It’s huge, really. It’s essentially going to give us a season and some of those tourism numbers that we generally get, so that’s great,” he said. “And last year, it had a huge impact for our business so we’re hoping for the same this year.”
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The company, which runs a surf school and recently opened a shop, does most of its business with out-of-province tourists, many from Ontario and Quebec, he said.
Manos estimated the number of people who visited his business from the other Atlantic provinces last year nearly doubled. They “essentially kept us in business,” he said.
“I guess people just wanting to travel, or being allowed to travel within that bubble sort of provoked them to make the trip over to Nova Scotia and we saw a direct result from that,” he said.
Nico Manos, co-owner of the Lawrencetown Surf Company, says visitors from other Atlantic provinces last year ‘essentially kept us in business.’ (CBC)
Over the summer months, the province had increased levels of tourism activity and visits to its website, Zanda Alexander, spokesperson for Tourism Nova Scotia, said in email.
“For some, the bubble provided a sense of safety and confidence to travel,” Alexander said.
Alexander said last year, declines in accommodations, room night sales and road travel were less severe in the late summer and early fall compared to previous months.
No news on opening to rest of Canada
As of Thursday, Nova Scotia had 17 active cases of COVID-19 and Newfoundland and Labrador had 34. As of Wednesday, New Brunswick had 42.
P.E.I. had four active cases as of Tuesday.
People from outside Atlantic Canada will still need to self-isolate for 14 days upon arriving in any of the four provinces.
Premier Rankin also said they are holding off on reopening the Atlantic provinces to the rest of Canada until more people have been vaccinated.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” he said.
