Photo by Whitehorse Star
Dr. Catherine Elliott
Assume symptoms reflect COVID, Elliott advises
To every Yukoner who has anything resembling cold or flu or any kind of respiratory symptoms, Dr. Catherine Elliott, the acting chief medical officer of health, has a simple message.
To every Yukoner who has anything resembling cold or flu or any kind of respiratory symptoms, Dr. Catherine Elliott, the acting chief medical officer of health, has a simple message.
You should assume you have COVID-19 and isolate for seven days. No testing needed.
That was the gist of her message during today’s weekly COVID-19 briefing.
To prevent the testing system from being overwhelmed by crippling demand, Elliott has put together a recommendation for otherwise healthy and vaccinated people to simply hide themselves away without resorting to testing to confirm a formal diagnosis.
If you have a chronic health condition, or are not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, then you should seek testing, Elliott said.
That’s at the heart of the new mandates released by Yukon public health officials in the last few days as virus cases spike.
There are currently 325 active cases in the Yukon – a new record for the pandemic and a figure updated this afternoon from the one in a story on p. 4.
Technically, if you have any symptoms such as the sniffles, a sore throat, a cough or a fever, and you don’t isolate, you could be fined under the CEMA legislation.
Asked whether the government would do so, Elliott told a reporter this isn’t the time to be thinking about fines.
Premier Sandy Silver chipped in with a comment that the government is thinking more in terms of education rather than enforcement at the moment.
Elliott was further pressed on the concept by reporters who asked about people with chronic respiratory conditions such as allergies or asthma. She said there would be further information coming for those situations.
She said the mandates should be taken in a “situational context,” but didn’t explain further.
Elliott and Silver also didn’t provide any specific answers when asked how people in Whitehorse who don’t drive are supposed to access testing services.
Anyone with symptoms is supposed to avoid public transportation, they were told by a reporter – and local taxis are refusing to transport symptomatic people.
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Comments (47)
Up 0 Down 0
Hey Elliot and silver on Feb 5, 2022 at 9:50 am
"Among all the vaccines I have known in my life:
Copied amd pasted
— diphtheria
— tetanus
— smallpox
— typhoid
— anthrax
— rota virus
— measles
— rubella
— chickenpox
— hepatitis
— meningitis
— tuberculosis
I want to also add:
— flu, pneumonia and shingles.
- I have never seen a vaccine that forced me to wear a mask and maintain my social distance, even when you are fully vaccinated.
- I had never heard of a vaccine that spreads the virus even after vaccination.
- I had never heard of rewards, discounts, incentives to get vaccinated.
- I never saw discrimination for those who didn't.
- If you haven't been vaccinated no one has tried to make you feel like a bad person.
- I have never seen a vaccine that threatens the relationship between family, colleagues and friends.
- I have never seen a vaccine used to threaten livelihoods, work or school.
- I have never seen a vaccine that would allow a 12-year-old to override parental consent.
- After all the vaccines I listed above, I have never seen a vaccine like this one, which discriminates, divides and judges society as it is.
And as the social fabric tightens… It's a powerful vaccine!
She does all these things except IMMUNIZATION.
If we still need:
— a booster dose after we are fully vaccinated,
— and we still need to get a negative test after we are fully vaccinated
— and we still need to wear a mask after we are fully vaccinated
— and still be hospitalized after we have been fully vaccinated
“It's time for us to admit that we've been completely deceived."
Up 0 Down 0
Dallas on Jan 12, 2022 at 4:57 pm
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.
Up 0 Down 0
Dallas on Jan 12, 2022 at 4:49 pm
The sky is falling or wolf, wolf.
Up 0 Down 2
TheHammer on Jan 11, 2022 at 7:04 pm
Stephan Angerer@ 'Lady', is this the feminine equivalent of 'Sir', and is she one of the people you don't respect? I'll tell you who she is Herr Angerer, her last name is English, and she was born in Canada. My recommendation for you is to trade in your jackboots for a pair of mukluks, they are more colorful, softer, and indigenous.
Up 11 Down 0
AdmiralA$$ on Jan 11, 2022 at 12:42 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHA....What a laugh start to finish.
2 years down another one to go, and another and another. Good thing I have lived here my whole life, the darkness and isolation do not bother me one bit.
Wonder how so many who are not used to it are doing or will be doing after 4 years of this or more. I can see many starting to break already. Sadly many have already broken and left us.
Best of Luck to you all.
Up 11 Down 2
Stefan angerer on Jan 10, 2022 at 9:34 pm
Who is this lady? Probably lives off our tax money but why???
Up 14 Down 0
No questions please. on Jan 10, 2022 at 8:59 pm
(when asked about people with asthma...) "She said there would be further information coming for those situations. She said the mandates should be taken in a “situational context,” but didn’t explain further."
Does Catherine Elliot ever get around to giving out the 'further information' she says is forthcoming when she fobs off questions? She must know. Why doesn't she share information? Or does she know?
Up 39 Down 3
drum on Jan 8, 2022 at 9:41 pm
So if we get a cold (we get them every year) we should presume we have COVID.
I have followed every suggestion from our government from this day but it is getting a bit far fetched.
Up 38 Down 5
Bob penso on Jan 8, 2022 at 7:39 pm
2 weeks to flatten curve...two shots to end pandemic..... I mean 3...... Maybe 4
people waking up yet?
Up 8 Down 20
NeilAlexGeddy on Jan 7, 2022 at 3:55 pm
@Roy
Roy .... thanks for enlightening us with real facts from Ontario.
I think it is a waste of time because the tinfoil making up these hats has amazing reflective properties. The facts will just bounce off the tinfoil and never be absorbed. It's a great read and I will repost the link.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-epi-confirmed-cases-post-vaccination.pdf
Up 9 Down 11
Roy on Jan 7, 2022 at 10:49 am
JohnW
Here are some stats for you on Ontario
www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-epi-confirmed-cases-post-vaccination.pdf
Take your time. Really let it settle in. Make sure you really think about what you are seeing vs what you want to believe
Up 36 Down 2
Hannah A on Jan 6, 2022 at 9:01 pm
Question: if I am fully vaccinated and have just recovered from the Omicron strain, why do I need to get a booster of the same vaccine that was formulated for the original SARS-CoV-2 strain?
Also, why did vaccine regulators Dr. Phil Krause and Marion Gruber at FDA resign over boosters?
Up 36 Down 9
JohnW on Jan 6, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Data compiled by the Ontario government show that fully vaccinated individuals have 28% higher COVID-19 infection rates (64 per 100,000) than the unvaccinated (50 per 100,000). On 29 December there were 8,221 new cases in fully vaccinated Ontarians versus 1,514 in the unvaccinated.
No wonder there is a global explosion of infections. It is the vaccinated! After just a few months after vaccination you INCREASE (by 76% for Pfizer and 39% for Moderna) your chances of contracting omicron.
In Denmark, against Omicron, both Pfizer and Moderna only protect a third to a half of the vacinees for a month. After 3 months the “efficacy” against infection is negative. 90 days after vaccination with Pfizer, vaccinees are 76% more likely to catch Covid (Omicron) than if they were not vaccinated.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v2
Omicron is a cold. That's what the data tells us. Only a lunatic psychopath would want to shutdown society or put any measures in place at all to fight a cold. It's what the data shows. Period.
The data also shows those vaxes are a waste of time costing taxpayers billions...including pushing them for this common cold AND doing so with little children who's immune system doesn't require help nor are they 'spreaders'.
Up 50 Down 2
Bandit on Jan 6, 2022 at 12:08 pm
You should assume you have COVID-19 and isolate for seven days. No testing needed. (If you assume you make an ASS out of U and Me)
To prevent the testing system from being overwhelmed by crippling demand, Elliott has put together a recommendation for otherwise healthy and vaccinated people to simply hide themselves away without resorting to testing to confirm a formal diagnosis.
Technically, if you have any symptoms such as the sniffles, a sore throat, a cough or a fever, and you don’t isolate, you could be fined under the CEMA legislation.
I would Love to challenge a CEMA fine in Court. Yes your Honor I did go out to get some Nyquil to help with my ... Nightime, Sniffling, Sneezing, Coughing, Aching, Stuffy Head, Fever so I can rest medicine and got arrested by the CEMA Cops. I plead INSANITY!!!
Release the Rapid Tests or Step Down CMHO!!!
Up 48 Down 4
bonanzajoe on Jan 6, 2022 at 11:32 am
Had to read the article again. My eye caught the "sniffle" thing. Now, I got a nose injury in the Army in 1963. I had 3 operations to fix the problem. I have the sniffles ever since the injury. Now I am told, legally I could be fined for doing some sniffling. And now because of it, I have to quarantine for the rest of my life. If I get caught by the authorities sniffling, I could be fined or go to jail. I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously thinking of emigrating to Russia or Cuba.
Up 33 Down 4
Groucho d'North on Jan 6, 2022 at 11:20 am
I do not envy Dr. Elliot's role in this pandemic. She has too many masters to serve in sharing information and keeping with the overarching strategy to deal with we the 'Great Unwashed and Quite Infecteous'.
I am reminded of Jack Nicholson barking "You can't handle the truth!" in an old movie, so what do we get instead? Official messages created by the spin doctors at WHO, CDC, Federal and territorial governments. Their objectives are to marshal a confused and increasingly angry public who have learned to doubt what authorities may say about matters that are potentially dangerous. Yes there is history too. Politcians and their minions are often caught speaking mistruths, so how do we know they are being truthful today when they speak of all things pandemic? As a child I learned that respect is earned. Perhaps authorities should work on becoming more truthful to earn back the public's respect and ultimately, obeyance?
Up 37 Down 4
bonanzajoe on Jan 6, 2022 at 11:14 am
Sheepchaser. This is one of the very rare times I had to give you a thumbs up. But remember, you lefties voted for this gaggle of socialist commies. Now, until conservatives come back to power, live with it and grin and bear it.
Up 35 Down 4
Dallas on Jan 6, 2022 at 11:13 am
Government creating division and discrimination against those that don’t vaccinate…. more people kick the bucket from drugs than covid but the liberals in the territory want to create division … the stupidity runs deep in the elected politicians in the territory and all across this country… time to clean house.
Up 73 Down 3
Sheepchaser on Jan 6, 2022 at 10:44 am
What a ‘clustermuck’. You’d think that after almost three years, these folks would have gotten wise on the communication side of things.
One thing worth noting here. Hanley’s self-serving jump into politics is a big part of the loss of confidence in this public office. That legacy will live on for a good while. That said, the message here is pretty simple: if you are sick, stay home. Same message we’ve been hearing through flu season for years. Nothing new to it at all except there’s a vague threat of fines now.
If, as a government, you’re not going to require paid sick days by law in this jurisdiction then it is almost entrapment to force people to stay home under threat of law given the financial realities of modern life. As the pandemic becomes less deadly and more endemic, the justification for fines and enforcement also fades. You can’t keep strict rules in place as the risk becomes manageable as. This is likely the last wave of the virus for which sweeping public health measures can be justified.
Sandy, your increasingly isolated and out of touch leadership is starting to show again. Let me ask you, if there’s a seriously dangerous mutation of virus in the next year or so, something with high rates of transmission and death that we really need to lock down for, do you think your administration has the necessary credibility to maintain the requisite trust of the people?
Questionable, right? That’s a problem.
Up 61 Down 7
Jeff Bikaboom on Jan 6, 2022 at 9:54 am
It seems the fear campaign may have worked too well. Double and triple vaxxed people are overwhelming the system because they are so scared. There has been so much focus on preventing covid that people may not be equipped to deal with actually getting it.
"You should assume you have COVID-19 and isolate for seven days. No testing needed."
"If you have a chronic health condition, or are not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, then you should seek testing"
So only unvaccinated should be tested? Why? It would be nice to have proper statistics which is difficult if you are only testing the people that are actively being discriminated.
Fines for sniffles. Interesting.
"Premier Sandy Silver chipped in with a comment that the government is thinking more in terms of education rather than enforcement at the moment." "At the moment" infers this will soon change, but please educate away. Instead of educating what you can do with your emergency powers how about some help with what to do when people have covid. Should they go home and wait until they are ready for a ventilator and a medically induced coma? Should they run to the emergency room ASAP? Is there medicine they can take to reduce symptoms? What demographic is at risk? We don't know because details are not shared with the public.
The government is quite vocal on ways to stop the spread, but what can people do to stay healthy when they get covid? What kind of early treatments are available?
Up 67 Down 7
iBrian on Jan 6, 2022 at 9:23 am
It is unfortunate that majority of us now have no respect for the CMHO, or the previous one, or the acting. It seems that the main qualifications are they must mimic a puppet.
They have turned a Flu into a war and divided our population without a single bullet.
I have little faith now in our leaders. They have proven Fear is big business. Only in the future when the truth is unveiled will the puppeteers be exposed.
Waiting for tomorrow…
Up 39 Down 3
Dave on Jan 6, 2022 at 8:28 am
Great advice, I guess your job is done here.
Up 58 Down 9
Matthew on Jan 6, 2022 at 1:49 am
Anyone else feel like a 5 year old wrote the presser!? LOL talk about pathetic, it's like they're talking to a kindergarten class.. but mind you, the sheep are blindly going to slaughter house..
Up 78 Down 3
Max Mack on Jan 6, 2022 at 1:17 am
So, get tested if you are un-vaxxed, but avoid testing if you are vaxxed? In other words, let's deliberately skew the already skewed statistics. No doubt to "prove" that the un-vaxxed are responsible for the lion's share of "infections". (Especially now that the vaxxed are driving spread.)
As for fining people who fail to isolate because of the "sniffles" or a "sore throat", please show me the specific provisions of CEMA that grant such broad sweeping powers. Any judge worth their salt would throw out such charges and condemn the government and the CMoH for such broad over-reach.
It is well beyond time to end this tyranny.
Up 36 Down 7
DL on Jan 6, 2022 at 1:17 am
Here's important information, based on DATA (not assumptions), from the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, a group of over 500 medical scientists and practitioners:
https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/The-COVID-19-Inoculations-More-Harm-Than-Good-REV-Dec-16-2021.pdf
Up 55 Down 5
DL on Jan 6, 2022 at 1:15 am
Assume? We've been coerced into vax mandates of questionable safety on the basis of assumptions all along! Since omicron's symptoms are the same as the common cold, why don't we just follow our granmothers' age old benevolent advice: if you have symptoms stay home, get plenty of rest, and drink that lemon zinger tea. Go back to your life as normal when you feel better.
Up 77 Down 4
Symptoms on Jan 5, 2022 at 11:40 pm
I have a cough, sniffles and sore throat. I work in the private sector and have no benefits and certainly do not get paid to be at home. I bought rapid tests and did 3, all are negative. Guess what, I have a regular cold.
If I took Elliots/Silvers advise, I would stay home for 7 days and risk not having my bills paid. No thanks, easy for her to say when she makes hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars each year.
Up 39 Down 5
DL on Jan 5, 2022 at 11:38 pm
Missing critical information: how mild is this omicron thing... Instead of inducing fear and panic once again, let's calmly look at facts and come to logical conclusions. Many medical scientists have recently done this.
Here's an example:
"'Good News': mRNA Scientist Says Omicron Looks Like Something Vaccinologist Would Design on Purpose"
https://www.westernjournal.com/good-news-mrna-scientist-says-omicron-looks-like-something-vaccinologist-design-purpose/?ff_source=Email&ff_medium=conservative-brief-WJ&ff_campaign=dailypm&ff_content=western-journal
Up 57 Down 3
Bud McGee on Jan 5, 2022 at 9:47 pm
Let it rip! We have a limited window for herd immunity. This variant is a cold for most people. If left unchecked, it should race through the globe in a month and we'll all be good. Omicron is nature's vaccine. Let's not squander this chance to end the Pandemic.
Up 63 Down 3
Rick S on Jan 5, 2022 at 9:36 pm
I just had to read this article again. Basically if you have any cold symptoms you should assume you're a criminal and not leave your house. Even Sandy felt uncomfortable. The woman has lost her mind. This trainwreck must be coming off the rails soon. Right? RIGHT!?
Up 58 Down 4
Salt on Jan 5, 2022 at 7:51 pm
Well I guess that’s another way to defend the vaccine narrative. The mRNA shots don’t work, so just stop testing the vaccinated but continue testing everyone else. If the testing was followed up by treatment this might be marginally defensible, but there is no treatment unless hospitalization is required. Funny how we don’t even attempt to treat such a “serious” illness. The local libs are going as mad as their prince.
Up 49 Down 8
Josey Wales on Jan 5, 2022 at 6:10 pm
*Cannot take credit for this absolute genius...
*Village Elliot, must be high...assume?
Actually there are a lot of folks that must be high in this medical industrial machine.
The only assumption I make is that she has strings, they are pulled by political blowholes.
Okay another assumption, when those political blowholes move their lips...they are lying.
At this point if you have not woke up to the nefarious shenanigans, you wish to sleep. Stockholm syndrome bigus timus.
Enjoy the deep sleep ZZZZZzzzz....
Up 58 Down 5
Time for an election on Jan 5, 2022 at 6:03 pm
Turns out you can get a worse health minister than Pauline Frost.
Call the election. Time to clean house and say goodbye to the Pension Plan Agreement with the NDP.
Up 70 Down 4
This is crap on Jan 5, 2022 at 5:38 pm
I hope i don’t get caught with a runny nose after being out in the cold (which happens to virtually everyone).
We’re all screwed.
This has gotten ridiculously out of hand.
Up 56 Down 3
Crunch on Jan 5, 2022 at 5:31 pm
I got great idea- why don't you isolate in your ****ing grader and plow the the ***dam streets !!!
Up 64 Down 4
Doctors Without Logic on Jan 5, 2022 at 5:28 pm
Wow. Now doctors have abandoned their duties to the point we’re being encouraged to simply diagnose ourselves. Anyone smelling the BS yet? We’ve been had.
Up 53 Down 5
Rick S on Jan 5, 2022 at 5:28 pm
In case you need it spelt out for you, Catherine Elliot is relishing her unjust punishment of citizens.
Up 64 Down 3
Dave on Jan 5, 2022 at 5:03 pm
Do you get the same impression I do that Elliott and Silver are just flailing about blindly at this point? That our heads are so far under water and we don’t know what to do so we’ll say anything whether it makes sense or not approach?
The simple truth would be to come out and tell people that most likely all of us are going to get the Omicron Covid variant at some point, the overwhelming majority will survive just fine at home and the system in place - for better or worse we will do all we can for those who are stricken harder.
Up 63 Down 3
Assume makes an… on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:58 pm
Assume? Holy f#%!… Are you for real? This is the science behind Covid? - WTF!
Up 53 Down 3
bonanzajoe on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:39 pm
Dr. Elliot likes to give out plenty of advice, but no information about the virus. We the people want information. We've had all the silence we need, now tell us something. Here's the deal, tell us everything then we will consider taking your advice. Don't blame us for being rebellious. You're not our mother.
Up 59 Down 3
These people on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:36 pm
Are Yukoners now realizing Elliott is not the smartest person in the room?
Up 56 Down 4
Lost In the Yukon on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:30 pm
If you thought Hanley was arrogant and preachy, Elliot is worse. One word sums her up … condescending. A number of her statements reek of someone who is accustomed to considering herself as the smartest person in the room … and really needs to talk slowly and louder so we can understand … and if we didn’t get it the first time she’ll say it again and again. So what did we learn … well she likes to speed but we need be like her and adapt to the ice fog and slow down … gee thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, would never have thought not to speed in heavy ice fog.
Up 63 Down 3
Frustrated on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:11 pm
For goodness sake, when will she be replaced with someone who has a shred of common sense and human decency? When have we before destroyed an entire society over cold symptoms? And taken away basic rights from a small minority group for no reason?
Up 55 Down 3
DMZ on Jan 5, 2022 at 4:01 pm
I wonder if someone told Catherine Elliott that Brendan Hanley's poetic flights of fancy were everyone's favourite part of his briefings. If so, she was misled.
"I was driving to town today, when all of a sudden I was enveloped in ice fog, and I thought, how like Omicron and my hapless subjects that is. Will they survive? They must park themselves in the garage with a box of Kleenex. I know! I shall make it illegal to exhibit any signs of inhalation and exhalation in the public square. Because, I can do that."
She should put traffic cones or hazard lights around herself. Danger: irrelevant allegory ahead, to obscure the truly baffling content of the message following.
Up 135 Down 10
Al on Jan 5, 2022 at 3:17 pm
How in the world can anyone give credence to this person. Imagine "Technically, if you have any symptoms such as the sniffles, a sore throat, a cough or a fever, and you don’t isolate, you could be fined under the CEMA legislation." Talk about using the heavy hand.
Silver tried to temper her outrageous comment, but oh no, she had to press her point even further: "Elliott was further pressed on the concept by reporters who asked about people with chronic respiratory conditions such as allergies or asthma. She said there would be further information coming for those situations.
She said the mandates should be taken in a “situational context,” but didn’t explain further.
Oh wait, it gets better: "Anyone with symptoms is supposed to avoid public transportation, they were told by a reporter – and local taxis are refusing to transport symptomatic people." Hm, so I live downtown, or Porter Creek. I do not have a car but feel I must go to the hospital - I can't, why? Well you are banned from any public transportation and must either scrounge a ride from a neighbour or walk. Bizarre, absolutely, unequivocally bizarre.
So again we have more incomplete information.
Up 108 Down 18
beaker on Jan 5, 2022 at 3:05 pm
So when I got the flu years ago I wasn't told what to do, what to assume or where to do it. Omicron equals the flu outside of its name. Now CMO is saying assume you have omicron and isolate for 7 days... ridiculous advice, treat it like the flu and when your better in 2 days get back to work.
Up 117 Down 11
Richard Smith on Jan 5, 2022 at 2:59 pm
Hey Elliott and Silver - time to let us peasants use those 3,500 covid rapid tests you are sitting on because we are not smart enough to use them.
Trudeau just got 140 million more for Canada they are sending out.
The Calgary police and many others are using these rapid tests instead of firing public employees.
Stop being so arrogant and heartless in this matter.