After going home to Nova Scotia for the winter break, Caroline Jonah, a fourth-year St. Thomas University student, said she and her roommate were confused because nobody was at the Aulac border when they drove from N.S. into New Brunswick.
She said they were asked a lot of questions when they returned to N.S. after STU first went online last March, but this time, all the two could see were abandoned trailers where officers used to screen people crossing the border.
“[My roommate] was saying, ‘maybe I should pull off in Aulac or Moncton or something in case we missed it,’” said Jonah. “And then I just went and googled what was going on and I found an article from November that was [Blaine] Higgs saying that even though the Atlantic bubble was closing, they weren’t going to change anything at the border.”
In a COVID-19 briefing on Oct. 2, Higgs said N.B. was suspending the screening of travellers by land from P.E.I. and N.S. so peace officers could focus on other efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Jonah said she was frustrated because she didn’t understand how the government was ensuring people were self-isolating. Compared to the last time she self-isolated after crossing provinces, Jonah said this time she only received automated calls from Public Health instead of being told a peace officer could show up anytime during her isolation.
Jonah and her roommate printed off documents, like their lease and proof of enrolment at STU, because the website where she registered to return to N.B. said to present those at the border.
“Just to drive right through – it was a little strange,” she said.
Hillary Jones, a Bachelor of Social Work student at STU, had a similar experience. When she went home for the break to P.E.I., she was asked a series of questions and then isolated once she arrived.
But when she returned to N.B., she said there was nobody there to ask questions or screen her.
She said she even filled out the online registration with the incorrect dates, but there was nobody to tell at the border, so her automated phone calls were messed up.
“I put that I was coming back on [Jan.] 26 when I meant to put [Jan.] 27,” said Jones. “Whenever I would select that on the phone call, it wouldn’t allow me to input my date because it’s an automated machine.”
Jones was concerned because no one was at the border, but she said it wasn’t overly scary because of the low case numbers in P.E.I.
“But also, it makes me a little wary of how the Quebec border is being monitored,” she said.
Jones said the way self-isolation is handled in P.E.I. is different than N.B. She said while she was isolating in P.E.I., a person called every day to check on physical and mental well-being other than COVID-19 symptoms. But in N.B., she got the same automated calls as Jonah.
Jonah said she doesn’t think there’s much the government is doing to enforce isolation. She said she probably could’ve gone outside and walked around without the threat of someone showing up to check on her.
She said this might be why the university is taking extra steps to call and check in every few days, getting a symptom assessment form from isolating students daily and encouraging students to get a COVID-19 test on day 10 of their isolations.
“I think it just relies a lot on people acting in good faith,” she said.
