The province has one new confirmed case of COVID-19.
It is a woman in her 40s in the Western Health region, is a close-contact of a previously-identified case, and is connected with a recent cluster in Western Health. The person is self-isolating, and contact tracing is underway.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says to-date there is no evidence of community spread in the province.
Spread of COVID-19 in the 18-35 year age group is driving recent surges in cases worldwide.
Dr. Fitzgerald offered a message of support to younger Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are at greater risk of contracting the virus because they work and congregate in areas where social distancing is often more challenging. She called young people “an awesome force.”
She understands how much COVID seems out of control, and “I’m with you in wanting things to be over and for life to be normal again, but wanting it won’t make it so” said Fitzgerald. She says there is so much we can all do to curb the spread of COVID-19 and the better we do it now, the sooner we can get back to normal.
Dr. Fitzgerald is recommending that businesses extend—rather than restrict—their hours of operation to help keep the number of people in the business at any given time low.
Premier Andrew Furey says provincial COVID updates will increase in frequency to Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.
He says government wants people to have the information they need to keep schools and businesses open in a safe and responsible way.
Government is planning on holding a technical briefing on point of entry testing later this week to clarify some of their reasoning for their decisions on the issue. @VOCMNEWS
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) November 25, 2020
