COVID-19: How 4th wave has hit N.B. and N.S. differently and the lessons to learn from it

While Nova Scotia has seen a modest uptick in cases compared with the summer, New Brunswick is seeing an unprecedented spike in community spread, hospitalizations, and deaths.

The fourth wave of COVID-19 has hit neighbouring provinces Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in starkly different ways.

While Nova Scotia has seen a modest uptick in cases compared with the summer, New Brunswick is seeing an unprecedented spike in community spread, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Active cases in the province pushed past 1,000 beginning last week — making it the highest active case counts since the pandemic began.

While there are many factors that could have contributed to this, an early easing of public health measures could be a major one.

New Brunswick lifted COVID-19 restrictions, including gathering limits and the masking mandate, back in July. The province had previously set a goal of vaccinating 75 per cent of eligible residents before lifting the restrictions, but had not even hit that goalpost.

To make matters worse, the province saw a slowdown in vaccination rates once the Green phase was announced.

All of this was exacerbated by the fact the Delta variant is more easily transmissible.

Last month, as cases continued to climb in New Brunswick, Premier Blaine Higgs said he was “not very happy” about the situation and hinted at regret for moving the province into the Green phase of its reopening plan.