As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise exponentially, New Brunswick’s Official Opposition is questioning the Higgs government’s lack of preparation for the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Premier Higgs is completely ill-prepared to handle the fourth wave of the pandemic!” says the Leader of the Official Opposition, Roger Melanson. “I don’t understand why there wasn’t a plan in place to respond to an eventual fourth wave. We’ve seen over the past 18 months that what happens in other jurisdictions eventually happens in New Brunswick, luckily it is usually on a smaller scale, but they should have been able to predict a fourth wave.”
With positive cases being identified in group settings like schools, long-term care homes, places of worship and community shelters, demand for Covid-19 tests is increasing rapidly and wait times are becoming an issue.
“We can’t have people waiting up to four days before getting tested! People have jobs, families and responsibilities – they need to know whether or not they are contagious as rapidly as possible” says Melanson. “I agree with the measures put in place in terms of vaccination and testing, but government needs to do a better job at providing the resources necessary to achieve them. Once again, they have failed on the execution.”
Last week, it was announced that anybody entering the province would need to register online but there have been issues with this system since it was implemented. “On day one, September 21, the inbox was already full so people could not send in their travel registration forms. How can the province be so ill prepared that a single day influx of emails is enough clog the system?” questions the interim Liberal Leader.
“We are currently seeing the results of a government that was completely ill-prepared for a fourth wave and waited far too long before taking action when cases began to rise. We can’t change the past, but the Premier must address the issues with testing and travel registration immediately before the situation gets completely out of hand” says Roger Melanson.