AMHERST, N.S. -- As New Brunswick moves to tighten its borders to keep the COVID-19 virus out, conservation officers manning provincial borders in Nova Scotia say they do not have the authority they need to do the job. They say they can't turn anyone back -- even if they're showing symptoms of COVID-19.

The conservation officers have been manning a checkpoint for weeks now on the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

At first they volunteered, but now they're mandated by the provincial government to monitor people entering Nova Scotia.

"They're going to continue to do the work, but they're frustrated because the work that they're doing isn't one of protecting, it's just giving out information," said Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) president Jason MacLean.

Essential workers entering Nova Scotia get a pass, but anyone else who tries to enter Nova Scotia is questioned and told to self-isolate -- but the conservation officers at checkpoints like the one in Amherst, N.S. cannot turn people away.

"We're lulled into a false sense of security that people can be turned away, but that's not the case," MacLean said.

The president of the NSGEU says that even includes anyone who admits to having symptoms of COVID-19.

"If a person had a fever or anything, and they told them that that they're not allowed in the province or whatever, and the person can go ahead and turn around or they can just continue on, there's no police there with our members," MacLean said.

MacLean says the government has been asked to give more powers to conservation officers at the border, but they have been denied.

"What you see at the border isn't the same thing that New Brunswick and P.E.I. are doing," MacLean said.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says five people have been turned away at airports and 38 others have been denied entry at land crossings.

"We are turning cars back if there’s not a reason to be here, either through an essential service provision, or you live here," Higgs said. "But there’s criteria in regards to whether you can move on. Maybe you’re going on to another province, maybe through New Brunswick to Nova Scotia or P.E.I. or Newfoundland, so we’re looking at all that, we’re tracking people we're just not saying have a nice day."

After two new cases in as many days, New Brunswick health officials are promising to review the effectiveness of border controls, perhaps even strengthening them.

Those are measures those monitoring Nova Scotia's entry points would like to see happen in that province.