New Brunswick’s Education Minister Dominic Cardy says in March of last year, he had one, dominating emotion: fear. "Fear that if we didn’t act, people would die," he said. "And a sense of responsibility knowing that position that I have meant that, if I didn’t stand up and didn’t push hard there could be terrible consequences." "At some points in those weeks it felt like trying to roll a very large rock up a steep hill," Cardy added. On March 13, 2020 Premier Blaine Higgs finished up a meeting around 7 pm. He spoke to reporters waiting at the legislature, and announced schools would be closed for two weeks.