⁍ Canada’s four Atlantic provinces bubbled together, allowing travel between them while keeping their borders restricted to everyone else.
⁍ More than 171,000 jobs were lost, exports plunged and the region’s C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) tourism sector was crippled.
⁍ The four Atlantic provinces began to allow travel between themselves in early July amid concerns the sudden freedom would lead to a rash of outbreaks.
⁍ There have been 73 COVID-19 deaths in the region, the bulk occurring before the bubble opened.
– “We knew (the Atlantic bubble) was going to help, we just didn’t know what it would look like,” Prince Edward Island Tourism Minister Matthew MacKay tells Reuters. The four eastern Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island “bubbled together,” allowing travel between them while keeping their borders restricted to everyone else, in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The four Atlantic provinces have a combined population of 2.4 million, and more than 171,000 jobs were lost, exports plunged, and the region’s tourism sector was crippled, with all four provinces swinging from economic growth to sudden contraction. While the initial impact was similar to what happened in the rest of Canada, data shows the rebound in jobs and economic activity that followed was quicker, bolstered by the ability to reopen the economy faster than the rest of the country. The four Atlantic provinces began to allow travel between themselves in early July amid concerns the sudden freedom would lead to a rash of outbreaks. There have been 73 COVID-19 deaths in the region, the bulk occurring before the bubble opened. There are now fewer than 15 active cases in PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia combined. In New Brunswick, which borders with Quebec where case counts are high, there are two outbreaks with 75 active cases. By comparison, Canada as a whole has had 9,862 deaths and currently has 23,481 active cases. The second wave has already led to targeted shutdowns in a number of other Canadian provinces.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-economy/canadas-atlantic-region-closed-out-world-to-beat-covid-19-and-the-economy-has-done-ok-idUSKBN27A0KG