N.B. COVID-19 roundup: New exposure notices include CUPE picket line
CBC
Public Health has posted some new public exposure notices Monday, including three involving the picket line for striking Canadian Union of Public Employees in the Saint John region, Zone 2.
They include:
The strike by 22,000 workers in 10 CUPE locals, including health care, education, transportation and agricultural sectors, as well as social workers, correctional officers, court stenographers and staff at WorkSafeNB and New Brunswick community colleges is now into Day 11.
On Friday, the province ordered striking health-care workers back to work. Those mandated back include more than 2,000 workers in locals 1252, 1190 and 1251, which represent support staff in vaccination clinics and hospitals, and those providing laundry services to hospitals and nursing homes.
Strike action by those not affected by the order continues.
There are no plans for the two sides to meet, according to Drost. On Sunday, he said the union sent the province a counter-offer Friday but has yet to receive a response.
COVID-19 testing has started to increase now that the health-care workers have returned to work and Horizon's assessment centres have reopened.
A total of 521 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, lab tests were conducted on Saturday, according to the COVID-19 dashboard. That's up from 319 provincewide on Friday, the dashboard shows.
Before the strike began, more than 1,000 tests were being conducted daily. The low testing has raised concerns about whether COVID cases are being found.
Public Health reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday.
Fifteen people are in hospital because of the virus, including nine in intensive care.
There are 473 active cases across the province.
A total of 85.9 per cent of New Brunswickers 12 or older are fully vaccinated, and 92.9 per cent have received their first vaccine dose.
New Brunswick has had 6,769 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with 6,174 recoveries so far and 121 COVID-related deaths.