Pandemic review will cost $489,000, be finished by fall, and shared

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The province says an internal “after-action review” of its pandemic performance will cost $489,000, be finished by fall, and will be released to the public – a backflip from what it said last year.

Last week, Brunswick News asked the province for an update on its review, which it put on hold until auditor general Paul Martin’s pandemic performance review was finished.

That wrapped up in December.

“The Department of Justice and Public Safety is conducting an after-action review on behalf of government. Ernst & Young were selected through a competitive process to complete the review and prepare recommendations,” spokesperson Allan Dearing said in an email.

“The department typically hires a third party to complete after-action reviews, as it has done for other major events like floods and ice storms. The department expects the after-action review and recommendations to be submitted to government this fall.”

Ernst & Young is being paid $489,000, Dearing said.

Last year, the province said the after-action review wouldn’t be publicly shared. But on Wednesday, Dearing revealed that that position has changed.

“The after-action review will be shared publicly after it has been reviewed by government. This is the same process that has been used for after-action reviews for other major events,” he said.

Martin’s report, split into two chapters, found the health department didn’t keep the evidence it used to justify dozens of big COVID-19 decisions, didn’t adjust targets as the pandemic evolved, and didn’t monitor the outcomes of its key performance metrics.

Overall, the report read, the departments of health, education and early childhood development, and justice and public safety did a good job, and “went above and beyond” to protect New Brunswickers.

But all three had room for improvement, it added.

Martin’s report made 18 recommendations, and the government says it has accepted them all.

In September, a senior government official revealed there was no pandemic plan, no usable personal protective equipment (PPE), and ultimately hundreds of deaths and thousands of COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick’s nursing homes and special care homes during the “five waves” of the pandemic. 

Deputy Social Development Minister Jim Mehan said the PPE that had been stored in long-term care homes after the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 hadn’t been consistently replaced, and had expired when COVID hit.

During an appearance before a legislative committee, Mehan took the blame for his department not starting the after-action review of the pandemic response because there was “confusion” between him and Martin about which parts of the long-term care sector Martin was examining.

Martin said he’d only examined nursing homes because it would have taken too long to look at special care homes too.