COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What's happening Thursday, July 16

A proposal by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs to extend the Atlantic bubble to include part of Quebec is getting a cool response from his Atlantic colleagues, including P.E.I. Premier Dennis King.

P.E.I. will not even begin to think seriously about expanding beyond the Atlantic bubble before August, says Premier Dennis King.

Whisperwood Villa is now easing lockdown restrictionsafter the second round of COVID-19 test resultsfor residents, staff and visitors came back negative.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a boom in the sale of chicks and hens for rent this summer as people want more of a hand in producing their own food.

P.E.I. company BioVectra has recalled a hand sanitizer it produced after Health Canada expressed concerns it may cause a mild rash.

Health PEI has set up a mobile COVID-19testing clinic atStoneparkIntermediate School to go along with the testing site at the Eastlink Centre.

The province said the clinic was set up tosupport increased testing related to Queen Elizabeth Hospital staff and other related contacts.

At a briefing Wednesday morning, P.E.I. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison saidall tests have come back negativeso far in connection with a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the QEH.

None of the news could be called good, but a Statistics Canada report shows P.E.I. businesses have performed relatively well in some respects during the pandemic, and relatively poorly in others.

Also in the news

• Charlottetown movie theatres are set to reopen Friday.
• Testing is underway on the group of people contact-traced through a previousnew case of COVID-19, a man in his 40s who is a health-care worker in the emergency department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.
• Health PEI has contingency plans to move the emergency department at the QEH if a COVID-19 outbreak makes that necessary, says Health Minister James Aylward.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has shown what can be possible with regard to a basic income guarantee on P.E.I., says the chair of the legislative committee on poverty.
• Health PEI told employees in an email earlier this week thatall staff who come in contact with patients and who aren't able to physically distance must now wear medical masks.

Further resources

• Here isinformation for livingwith the COVID-19 pandemic on P.E.I. including information on government relief programs, physical distancing measures, and essential health services.
• Here is achart tracking COVID-19 numbers and a timeline of COVID-19-related events on P.E.I.

More COVID-19 stories from CBC P.E.I.