Residents of Miramichi are mourning the loss of the city’s first ever mayor.

Janice Morrison died Wednesday at the age of 69.

Morrison was elected mayor in 1995, shortly after Miramichi became a city.

As a city councillor, she had lead the opposition to the province appointing a new city council, forcing the first municipal election in the city’s history.

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The entire province is now in the orange phase of COVID-19 recovery.

With new case numbers dropping, Dr. Jennifer Russell announced yesterday that the Edmundston region would be moving out of the red phase and back to orange.

Four new cases were announced yesterday – all in the Edmundston region.

The number of active cases is now down to 111.

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The province says he plans to delay giving some New Brunswickers a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

With limited and unpredictable supplies of vaccine available, the province wants to get as many people vaccinated as possible as new faster moving variants threaten the province.

Dr. Russell said yesterday that a single dose is effective in providing protection for up to 90 days.

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Miramichi MLA Michelle Conroy is calling on the province to allow families to visit dying relatives.

Conroy says she gets daily calls and emails from people desperate to see loved ones who are alone in hospital.

Conroy says testing and PPE use should allow for relatives to visit hospitals.

Health Minister Dorothy Shepard says will be speaking with officials at the two health authorities about the issue.