Grassroots advocates doing the work of Public Health in New Brunswick

In October 2022, a group of New Brunswick citizens hosted a funeral for Public Health in front of the legislature in Fredericton. Frustrated by the provincial government’s abandonment of SARS-CoV-2 protections and its responsibility to protect citizens, the activists publicly demonstrated to raise awareness of the failures of Public Health in our province. Little did they know that this would be the beginning of an extensive campaign to fundraise and distribute respirator masks and SARS-CoV-2/COVID rapid tests to New Brunswick citizens across the province. A responsibility the government should never have abdicated.

One and a half years later, the group has distributed over 5,000 respirators, and 2,000 individual rapid tests across five of the seven health zones in New Brunswick, according to organizer Haley Jones. This involved fundraising and distribution efforts by approximately 10-20 volunteers, most of whom are members of Protect our Province New Brunswick (PoP NB). After the start of the pandemic, PoP NB formed “with the goal to create easy-to-access information on SARS-CoV-2/COVID risks and protection measures.”

Jones explains PoP NB works “to counter the individualism Public Health is so eager to push onto us. When it comes down to it, community is all we have and we need to be the ones to build and foster that community.” Jones wanted others to know “they’re not alone in continuing to mask.” Further, respirators costs and availability isn’t guaranteed by the province, and so community advocates were forced to step in.

Although the province does make rapid tests available to New Brunswickers, Jones noted the government’s web sources are “clunky, difficult to navigate and even more difficult to fill out. PoP NB also recognizes testing needs to be easy and many people are without a car or a driver’s license: many people don’t have the mobility to easily get testing and care materials themselves.

People who receive respirators and rapid tests across the province have been deeply grateful and encouraged by the work of PoP NB. “The people we help are often isolated and thrilled to  get help from someone ‘on their side’” Jones added. The responsibilities of protecting oneself from COVID has been downloaded to people, and it’s a lonely battle. PoP NB brings hope and community interaction to their efforts in caring for their fellow New Brunswickers.

Despite news of the ongoing pandemic disappearing from the headlines, the virus itself hasn’t stopped its impacts. Access to health care hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels impacted, to say nothing of the functioning of local businesses and services.

In 2024, multiple hospital units have been or are currently on COVID outbreak status, which affects the safety of the patients and staff of those units as well as daily working conditions. Nationally,  COVID was the third leading cause of death in Canada in 2022, behind all cancers and heart disease. Radio-Canada reported “New Brunswick saw the biggest decline in life expectancy in 2022 [of Canadian provinces], dropping to 79.8 years from 80.9 in 2021.”

In December 2023, Statistics Canada also released a new report on Long COVID, showing that rates of Long COVID in Canada are growing alongside new infections. Crucially, over half of people reporting Long COVID symptoms have not yet recovered.

For residents of New Brunswick experiencing Long COVID, there is no dedicated Long COVID clinic and no real recourse for the disability issues which may arise from the illness. People are told to contact their primary care provider; yet primary care providers have not received continuing education on diagnosing or treating long COVID. To say nothing of existing waitlists to get a doctor.

Worse, Public Health just stopped addressing the public. The last time we had a live public briefing on SARS-CoV-2 was February 24, 2022. It has been 25 months since numerous ground-breaking publications and developments from recognized health agencies and experts have been commented on by Public Health, nor passed along to the people of the province who might benefit. Our public services are ignoring the problem, or being instructed to pretend Long COVID doesn’t exist.

Given the severity of the COVID pandemic, and the provincial government’s abandonment of its duties to the public, PoP NB volunteers took up the task of building a movement to do this work. Dozens of volunteers have been able to learn about and distribute appropriate respiratory protection and rapid tests across the province. Members of PoP NB have worked within national and international coalitions trying to reduce transmission of disease, including presenting at events such as the World Health Network Clean Air Expo. They also filed Right to Information (RTI) requests to expose the provincial government’s deception and neglect regarding Long COVID, spoken with media regularly, and worked within communities to build do-it-yourself air filters to clean indoor air.

If regular citizens without any previous formal training in aerosol science or occupational hygiene can do this work, then what is Public Health’s excuse? Why isn’t the Higgs administration and cabinet ministers taking decisive action? We’re left to fend for ourselves in this pandemic. PoP NB will continue to do the work of building community, raising awareness, and protecting as many people as possible. Someone has to.

Kathleen Gadd is a librarian and member of PoP NB. 

Dave Thomas is a professor in the Department of Politics & International Relations at Mount Allison University and a member of PoP NB.