Photo by Vince Fedoroff
NUMBER OF CASES RISES – Dr. Brendan Hanley and Mary Tiesen, the Yukon government’s American sign language interpreter, are seen at Monday afternoon’s news conference updating Yukoners on the COVID-19 crisis.
Fifth COVID-19 case turns up in Yukon
A fifth Yukon case of COVID-19 has been confirmed, and is part of the territory’s first cluster of cases.
A fifth Yukon case of COVID-19 has been confirmed, and is part of the territory’s first cluster of cases.
“I’m happy with these numbers, and the results of these investigations,” Dr. Brendan Hanley, the territory’s chief medical officer, told a media briefing Monday afternoon.
Hanley provided an update on the status of COVID investigations.
He said four of the Yukon’s COVID-19 cases are related to a single case, so the risk to the public is still very low.
All five of the Yukon’s cases are still doing well, and recovering at home.
There may be one or two more cases related to this cluster, but Hanley said investigators are “near the end of the line” of contact tracing these cases.
No cases have been discovered through exposure at Elias Dental nor Bethany Church.
Late last week, the were announced as low-risk exposure locations on specific dates earlier this month.
Hanley reiterated the importance of physical distancing, frequent hand-washing, avoiding face touching and covering coughs and sneezes.
He referred to Yukoners who are staying home as the front-line in the war against the virus.
Hanley was not able to estimate how much longer Yukoners will be asked to stay at home and observe physical distance.
“We don’t know how long this is going to take,” Hanley said.
“We think months, and it’ll be guided by what has been the course of the epidemic.”
He said the territory needs to be careful of standing down too early. Across the world, chief medical officers are watching for the result of China’s newly relaxed social measures.
“Let’s not underestimate how brutal a war this could be if we let down our defences.
“When COVID tries to make its way in, we must not only flatten that curve, we must beat it to the ground.”
Hanley said he has been happy to see “social spacing and innovation go hand-in-hand” as Yukoners connect over FaceTime family gatherings and Zoom cocktail parties.
“In this way, we will protect each other, and protect our most vulnerable citizens and communities,” Hanley said.
The Yukon’s public health force is constantly revising its testing and public health management strategy, a press release stated Monday.
Whitehorse General Hospital is currently preparing for a potential influx of COVID-19 patients, including identifying other facilities where care could be provided.
Resource management is underway to ensure there is sufficient staff, equipment and supplies to treat an outbreak of the virus.
Contact tracing is also underway and involves investigating flight histories.
In the case that someone has tested positive for COVID-19 and has travelled by air in the preceding 14 days, the Yukon government will contact the people on that flight who were sitting within two metres of the individual.
Those who are contacted are required to self-monitor for symptoms. If they develop symptoms, they will be asked to immediately self-isolate and contact Yukon Communicable Disease Control.
“This is a precautionary approach to account for any possible transmission on flights and avoids the publication of flight information,” the press release stated.
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Comments (11)
Up 12 Down 4
Yukon Cornelius on Apr 5, 2020 at 11:46 am
@ Harry Hindsight who wrote: "Funny thing is that I don't remember any of these arm chair notificationists posting any warnings or alarms back on these dates that they are quoting now. Where were you?"
How is anything in my posts 'hindsight'? What part of: Austria, France, Slovenia and Switzerland (all of whom share a border with Italy - a country with the 2nd highest number of COVID-19 deaths) took steps early on to close their borders and warn their citizens and therefore each of these countries have fewer cases of Coronavirus and COVID-19 disease deaths' don't you get?
It's not 'hindsight'. It's called 'responsible government' and 'leadership' - things that are apparently woefully lacking in the current leadership of the Liberal Yukon Government who instead while calling the opposition 'Paranoid' when they demanded the Premier's 'plan' to deal with the Coronavirus global pandemic, continued to allow 54 flights/week (7,067 passengers/week) to land in Whitehorse via Vancouver International Airport for 2 full months after the January 30, 2020 World Health Organization global public health advisory was issued.
This is not an issue of 'hindsight', but an issue of 'gross incompetence' and 'gross negligence'.
Again (in case you missed it the fist time) it doesn't take an Epidemiologist to understand that if you allow flights to land in Whitehorse after the same passengers have walked through the Vancouver Airport terminal where, since January 25, 2020 (the Lunar New Year celebrations) people were either receiving family from, or returning from visiting family in China (as is the custom during Lunar New Year celebrations) as the Coronavirus epidemic raged in China, that some 40 days later (coincidentally, the incubation period for COVID-19 disease) you're going to have people in the Yukon infected with Coronavirus and COVID-19 cases in Yukon's already over-stretched hospitals.
Perhaps if you stop shilling for Sandy and engage in a modicum of critical thinking, you just might survive what's about to hit the Yukon.
Up 4 Down 13
Moose on Apr 4, 2020 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for proving my point. Yes, these are childish political games. Officials in the Yukon and every province have been taking the advice of their chief medical officers. You are saying with hindsight that they should have discarded the advice of our Chief Medical Officer time and time again.
So far we are doing ok with 4 of 6 cases recovered. What you are saying is that we should replace our current officials who listen to the advice of medical scientists and instead run with politicians who govern by populist hysteria. I don't know if perhaps you work for the Yukon Party or something, but this is not the time.
Up 4 Down 11
Harry Hindsight on Apr 3, 2020 at 8:10 pm
Funny thing is that I don't remember any of these arm chair notificationists posting any warnings or alarms back on these dates that they are quoting now. Where were you?
Up 22 Down 3
Yukon Cornelius on Apr 3, 2020 at 2:09 pm
@ Moose:
Since when is advising Yukoners of the abject ineptitude of their elected officials who put their own political self-interest and the almighty dollar ahead of public health 'childish political games'?
When elected officials screw up, the public has a right to know and there should be (immediate) consequences. Sandy Silver and Federal Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne put Yukoners' lives at risk by continuing to allow over 7,000 passengers/week to land in Whitehorse via Vancouver International Airport for 2 months during a time when people were either receiving family from China in Vancouver or returning back to Vancouver after visiting family in China during Lunar New Year celebrations.
The people who landed in Whitehorse stood in line with, breathed the same air as, and touched the same check-in kiosk screens, counter tops and handrails as the aforementioned people.
To demonstrate the importance of shutting down borders during an airborne global pandemic, ask yourself why the number of COVID-19 cases in such countries as Austria, France, Slovenia and Switzerland are much lower than neighbouring Italy (all of whom share a border with Italy who had the highest number of COVID-19 cases)? It's because everyone of them (except Italy) shut their borders early on in the pandemic. Sandy, on the other hand, left the Yukon's front door wide open, while François-Philippe Champagne 'gave away our furniture and groceries'.
This, despite the fact that the first World Health Organization public health advisory regarding the Wuhan/Hubei, China Coronavirus outbreak was January 30, 2020. What did Federal Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne do? He sent 16 tonnes of Canadian medical personal protective equipment (PPE) to China. Now our own front line health care professionals are being infected with COVID-19.
SOURCE:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-infected-health-care-workers-the-source-of-coronavirus-outbreaks-at/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-whos-early-coronavirus-response-raises-awkward-questions-about/
Up 8 Down 20
Moose on Apr 2, 2020 at 9:00 am
Hey Cornelius, everyone is trying to do what's right and are all on edge right now. Maybe stop the childish political games until we at least get this virus under control. Now is not the time. Thanks.
Up 5 Down 2
JC on Apr 1, 2020 at 4:49 pm
Roy, should have bought the large rolls. They last a month.
Up 24 Down 1
Roy on Apr 1, 2020 at 12:09 pm
“When COVID tries to make its way in, we must not only flatten that curve, we must beat it to the ground.”
That's the spirit! Stay strong Yukon, we can make it through this together! Be vigilant! Oh, and by the way, would you mind leaving a bit of toilet paper on the shelves? A single roll lasts me for like a week so I only need a dozen or so. Thanks.
Up 34 Down 15
Mike on Mar 31, 2020 at 10:24 pm
This matter is already out of control thanks to secrets that were not supposed to be kept. People on a airplane who have flown with people with the virus will get the virus. Just be straight - your two meter crap is exactly that false information when we need truth. This government and its greed has jeopardized everyone. Stand up and take a bow. We are not medically, mentally or physically prepared so yo stand up and say we are is a blatant lie. Shame on our government for putting money ahead of lives.
Up 26 Down 17
Tina on Mar 31, 2020 at 5:54 pm
Good work Dr. Hanley and staff at YCDC and CMOH offices as well as the many, many people working tirelessly behind the scenes to protect all Yukoners and keep Covid-19 at a minimum. THANK YOU!
Up 20 Down 25
SheepChaser on Mar 31, 2020 at 5:28 pm
Three cheers for Dr. Brendan Hanley!!! By far the most competent person YG has ever stuck in front of a microphone. It's not a high bar to be sure, but he's sailing way above it.
Up 49 Down 19
Yukon Cornelius on Mar 31, 2020 at 1:45 pm
In the above article, Dr. Brendan Hanley was quoted as saying: "I’m happy with these numbers, and the results of these investigations. Let’s not underestimate how brutal a war this could be if we let down our defences. When COVID tries to make its way in, we must not only flatten that curve, we must beat it to the ground."
The inconvenient truth of the matter is that the Liberal Yukon Government let down it's defences 3 months ago.
While the first documented global case of COVID-19 disease was traced back to November 17, 2019 (https://www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.html) and while SARS-CoV-2 (Coronavirus) raged through Hubei Province and Wuhan, China in December 2019 prompting global public health advisories by the World Health Organization, instead of taking proactive steps to protect Yukoners (as other jurisdictions around the world did) the Liberal Yukon Government left Yukon's front door wide open by continuing to allow 54 flights/week (7,067 passengers/week) from Vancouver International Airport to land at Whitehorse International Airport.
It doesn't take an Epidemiologist to understand that if you allow flights to land in Whitehorse after the same passengers have walked through the Vancouver Airport terminal where, since January 25, 2020 (the Lunar New Year celebrations) people were either receiving family from, or returning from visiting family in China (as is the custom during Lunar New Year celebrations) as the Coronavirus epidemic raged in China, that some 40 days later (coincidentally, the incubation period for COVID-19 disease) you're going to have people in the Yukon infected with Coronavirus and COVID-19 cases in Yukon's already over-stretched hospitals.
On March 13, 2020 when the Opposition Party demanded what actions Premier Silver was taking to address the Coronavirus global pandemic, Premier Silver called them: "Paranoid".
With 5 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the Yukon, are we still 'paranoid', Mr. Premier?
Thanks to Sandy Silver's abject ineptitude, Yukoners will now have to make some serious choices as COVID-19 is expected to over-run its already stretched hospitals.
Thanks to another abjectly inept Liberal (in this case, Federal Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne), who shipped 16 tonnes of Canadian medical personal protective equipment (PPE) to China on February 4, 2020, our front line health care professionals face medical PPE shortages and are being/will be exposed to Coronavirus - thereby placing even more pressure on our health care system by reducing the number of health care professionals who can treat COVID-19 patients.
SOURCE:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-faces-criticism-for-sending-16-tonnes-of-personal-protective/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hospitals-rationing-masks-as-they-wait-for-promised-supplies-from/
Thanks, Sandy! Merçi François-Philippe!