Photo by Vince Fedoroff
PROVIDING THE LATEST NUMBERS – John Streicker, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, makes a point at this morning’s weekly COVID-19 briefing while Dr. Catherine Elliott, the territory’s acting chief medical officer of health, looks on.
The Yukon government is not bringing in any new restrictions for the holiday season, even with two new cases of the Omicron variant detected in Whitehorse.
The Yukon government is not bringing in any new restrictions for the holiday season, even with two new cases of the Omicron variant detected in Whitehorse.
During this morning’s COVID-19 briefing, the acting chief medical officer of health, Dr. Catherine Elliott, provided some advice for Yukoners who are travelling over the holidays and for people coming into the territory for a visit.
She made it clear the advice is recommendations only, rather than mandates, and cannot be enforced by law.
With the outbreak of the Delta variant still lingering, and the threat of Omicron dangling over our heads like the Sword of Damocles, Elliott said anyone entering the Yukon in the coming weeks should strongly consider going into what amounts to informal self-isolation for three to five days.
She is recommending for those three to five days that people minimize their contact with others as much as possible and limit the time they spend away from their home while they self-monitor for any virus-related symptoms.
Currently, Elliott said, there are 49 active cases in the territory. Daily case counts are averaging 7.6 a day, very comparable to the eight a day she mentioned last week.
“The situation has stabilized,” she said.
She is still expecting the Omicron variant to become the dominant strain here in the Yukon, as is happening elsewhere in Canada.
The variant has the potential to strain health care services via sheer numbers, she said, even if it isn’t clear if it causes more severe illness.
There still isn’t much good information available on Omicron, Elliott said.
“Omicron is a puzzle,” she said. “But we will learn to live with Omicron.”
That’s one reason why the government is talking a good story about the importance of booster shots, even as the public struggles to book appointments.
John Streicker, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, sat in on the briefing with Elliott. He acknowledged there have been booking problems.
He also said the government is actively hunting for way to expand the capacity to administer the boosters.
There is a shortage of people to administer the shots, and the government is reaching out to emergency medical services people, pharmacists and retired health professionals to help fill the void.
Streicker said the federal government has also been asked if it can provide up to 10 additional staff for the clinics.
Some of those requests, particularly in the communities and amongst EMS staff, might be problematic. In some communities, Ross River, for instance, EMS personnel are on unpaid leave for not complying with the government’s vaccine mandate.
Streicker also touched on that contentious issue. He said the latest numbers show 106 full-time staff are on unpaid leave for not documenting their vaccination status. That is up from 90 last week.
There are 192 casual and on-call employees off work. That’s the same number as last week.
Streicker didn’t provide an explanation of those numbers. Previously, there had been 44 applications for exemptions from the policy, and that is now down to 31.
Some of the discrepancy may be attributed to some of those workers being placed on leave.
Streicker said the government has tracked the number of resignations and retirements since the vaccine mandate was announced.
His tentative figures show 11 or 12 people left the public service in that time.
He didn’t indicate whether that’s more than normal, but the government is doing some research to try to discover why those employees left.
“I’ve asked for some follow-up,” he said.
Streicker did not have any numbers as to how much money the government is saving in salaries with the workers on unpaid leave.
“I’m not sure we are seeing any savings,” Streicker said. “We’re still trying to provide the same level of service, and asking other employees to fill in.”
At first look, the only explanation of why the government wouldn’t be saving money on salaries is if those employees still on the job are being paid overtime, but Streicker didn’t elaborate further.
“We’re not doing this to save money,” he added. “We will be watching the costs.”
This morning’s weekly briefing was the final one for 2021.
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Comments (32)
Up 3 Down 1
Medical Emergency on Jan 3, 2022 at 12:55 pm
Dear - Anonymous on Dec 24, 2021 at 1:51 am:
Good point about diarrhea. Other factors to consider:
1) 5 people die every minute globally due to medical error.
2) Globally, every year 2.6 million people die due to medical error.
3) Globally, every year 138 million people are injured due to unsafe medical treatment.
4) In Canada, every year close to 30,000 people are killed by medical error.
5) In Canada and the US medical error is acknowledged as the third leading cause of death - If our countries made reporting adverse events mandatory and there was better oversight over the medical profession in NA - That figure would easily be number 1.
The physical and psychological harms perpetrated by these so-called doctors is absolutely catastrophic.
Mass Formation Psychosis by Doctor Mallone - Look it up!
I am not suggesting that every medical professional is a Mengele or even a Doctor Cameron of McGill University fame… But you are delusional if you do not see how the ‘system’ of governance we have creates these people and allows them to practice their craft of the dark arts:
1) The holocaust - Jews Germany
2) The cultural genocide of First Nations - Canada and the US.
3) Forced Sterilizations - Canada and US and elsewhere.
4) The Tuskegee Syphilis Study wherein the medical professionals deliberately withheld treatment of black people for the purpose of studying the progression of Syphilis.
5) Experiments with deliberately infecting First Nations with diseases and starvation - Canada and the US.
6) The mind control/erasure of mentally I’ll patients by Doctor Cameron at McGill University at the behest of the CIA.
The list of modern day and recent historical harms caused by the medical profession with the complicit involvement of the government is absolutely shocking…
Up 5 Down 7
Splitz on Dec 28, 2021 at 1:44 am
Hey Joe with that election call you so bravely want what will the right split be for so called 'Yukon Partiers' and so called 'Yukon Freedom Partiers'.
This is reality Joe.
Up 21 Down 7
Joe on Dec 26, 2021 at 6:50 pm
@roy ....aka paid liberal staffer, we know the liberal think tank’s new lines are, we “may not be good (been busted on so many mistakes and ineptitudes) but were the best of the not good options” . Nice try but nobody agrees. Let’s call an election, you’re gonna see a few new YP candidates and a majority. Were so done with you and the libs crew.
Up 26 Down 4
Jesse s on Dec 26, 2021 at 5:18 pm
Why is omicron in Canada again? Oh yeah, it’s because of vaccinated people travelling. Who’s jeopardizing who’s health again? Just kidding. I put hard work into my personal well being rather than try control other peoples freedom to travel and live their lives, and that’s why I’m not worried. Maybe we should take that advice and actually learn to live with it, since more jabs lockdowns and masks haven’t worked with countries who’ve gone to the extremes. Perhaps we should prioritize health and wellness for a change. Jabs won’t stop the spread and locking down the unjabbed isn’t helping either, anybody can spread covid (far less likely with people who are naturally immune, funny we don’t talk about that). It’s time to move on and encourage things that will improve everybody's health and decrease all disease, not just covid. It’s about health right? Let’s act like it.
Up 15 Down 24
Roy on Dec 24, 2021 at 2:44 pm
@Joe
Nice try. But you’re wrong. I suspect you spend a lot of your day being wrong.
I’m not a liberal paid staffer. The liberals suck. Like a lot.
But guess what - they’re still better than the “promise the world without a way to pay for it” NDP.
And they are so much better than the “we’re acting like this is a student council election in junior high - vote for us and we promise more vending machines! Have you seen our petition?” Yukon Party of Amateurs. They aren’t competent enough to work a fast food drive thru.
They all suck. The liberals just suck the least.
Sorry your brain can’t comprehend something simple like how I can be pro vax, pro mandate, pro science, and anti-liberal party.
That’s my Christmas gift to you - Cheers.
Up 13 Down 17
Sheepchaser on Dec 24, 2021 at 10:15 am
@Roy,
Bang on! The restrictions and vaccines gave them something to unite about. As soon as the pandemic fades into endemic, they will go back to their individual corners of irrelevance.
Up 35 Down 9
Anonymous on Dec 24, 2021 at 1:51 am
Diarrhea kills 1.8 million people each year. Where's my Pepto Bismol mandate?
Up 28 Down 5
May I suggest..... on Dec 23, 2021 at 6:57 pm
....that all the experts reintroduce the words “I don’t know” into their vocabularies. Because we are ALL dependent on what someone else is telling us. We trust this source, we don’t trust that one. Some of us see through your act that you’re somehow “ in the know,” just because you’ve agreed to pay the cannibals to eat you last. Idiots who declare they know exactly what the coronavirus looks like and exactly what’s in the vaccines and what Oprah Winfrey does in her spare time. You don’t have anything to offer but a regurgitation of CNN.
Up 6 Down 23
TheHammer on Dec 23, 2021 at 6:35 pm
bonanzajoe@ You are the one making the comparison with the Black Death! What does the black death have to do with the Sword of Damocles? Getting your 'knickers in a knot.' Meaning; Overreacting verbally and emotionally to something trivial. What is trivial? According to the right wing anti government rants on the comments pages, COVID is trivial? What you are ranting about is the measures to deal with COVID. It's your comments and thinking that is trivial!
Up 9 Down 5
TheHammer on Dec 23, 2021 at 6:26 pm
The foremost weapon against communists-fascist-totalitarian, Russia, Chinese, and East European throwbacks is, British/Irish rock n roll. It's a true Western taste of freedom.
Up 30 Down 10
My Opinion on Dec 23, 2021 at 4:30 pm
Omiron is a cold, people. I'm not locking down, not a chance. If you want to, then be my guest. Too much traffic anyway. What a bunch of Sheep. Personally I will continue to do what I want, when I want.
Up 21 Down 6
Joe on Dec 23, 2021 at 3:36 pm
@roy… you're such a funny liberal paid staffer. They need all the help they can get atm. Your writing style is giving you away. I'm easy to find I use my real name.
Up 53 Down 10
Douglas James Martens on Dec 23, 2021 at 11:13 am
"If you have to be persuaded, reminded, pressured, lied to, incentivized, coerced, bullied, socially shamed, guilt-tripped, threatened, punished and criminalized...
If all of this is considered necessary to gain your compliance - you can be absolutely certain that what is being promoted is not in your best interest." author unknown
Up 20 Down 36
Roy on Dec 23, 2021 at 11:12 am
freedumb lovers: “the guvmint is using the virus to bring in a fascist totalitarian regime! They will just keep locking us down more and more. It will never end you’ll see!”
government: “we’re not imposing new rules - you should know what to do by now”
freedumb lovers: “ hey! that’s not what I said was gonna happen! I’m still angry but now I’m more confused! But I’ll talk about “rapid home PCR tests” which don’t even exist but then I’ll ask the guvmint to give me testing capabilities that I don’t even understand. I no longer know what I’m yelling about! Loud noises!!”
Up 40 Down 9
Mike on Dec 23, 2021 at 11:03 am
Delta, Omicron, blah blah blah - your vaccine science test just proves that 86% of the Territories population are sheep and will do whatever to themselves with zero scientific evidence except what the liberal government tells us. Every doctor and virologist that speaks out against this vaccine, some with tears in their eyes, showing scientific evidence are labeled antivaxers or conspiracy theorists when in fact the liberals around the world have violated everyone's rights multiple times with criminal mandates to try and develop a socialist society. It's disgusting and clear as day to people who will listen to both sides of the story.
If the government really wanted to help, why is cancer, diabetes, heart disease, crones disease pneumonia, HIV and many more diseases far more deadly than this flu and treatment is not free. Is it because disease in itself is a business. Like I believe with Moderna being a government owned vaccine and its stocks are up 500%. This is sad that people have lost the ability to think for themselves. Allow a public servant to repeat that dictate to us - the public in whom they serve. It makes as much sense as a waitress telling you sorry I know you want steak and lobster but you're getting beans and wieners and if you don't like it go and lock down. Ridiculous, shameful and proof just how weak our society has become and closed minded.
Enjoy your holidays - I'm going to do whatever I want wearing a mask to make my neighbors feel safe, not because of anyone saying I have to.
Up 37 Down 9
Jeff Bikaboom on Dec 23, 2021 at 9:11 am
"Dr. Catherine Elliott, provided some advice for Yukoners"
Advice, what a strange idea. It is what doctors should be giving as apposed to the strict orders and panic we are used to. This may be first time in 2 years these "gods" in lab coats have attempted to help instead of inciting panic. Congratulations.
"strongly consider going into what amounts to informal self-isolation for three to five days".
More advice, and it is reasonable and logical. Not even a mention of different rules for our two tiered society. No mention of the madness of two week isolation for a healthy person with no symptoms. No threats.
I welcome guidance, advice, and logic. More please.
Up 36 Down 10
No news is good news..... on Dec 23, 2021 at 9:01 am
....but not for a newspaper. Spread your wings a little, would you? If it simply must be front page Covid news every issue, can we get a couple stories other than how the village Elliot has nothing new to say? Give someone else some ink, then! There are THOUSANDS of medical experts and citizens and even the odd intelligent politician (the latter will require a long distance call, no doubt) who have plenty of news and information on Covid that they would love to share.
Up 38 Down 12
Salt on Dec 23, 2021 at 8:59 am
To paraphrase all past and future COVID briefings, "Do not stop being afraid. If you are not sufficiently afraid, then you need to be more afraid. Fear is our only way through this."
Up 48 Down 7
Sandy and Jeanie are travelling on Dec 23, 2021 at 8:13 am
Why are the Liberals telling us not to travel when both the Premier and the Minister of Education are travelling to party it up at crowded gatherings?
Up 38 Down 8
Admiral A$$ on Dec 23, 2021 at 7:58 am
Rules are suggestions, you want my freedom...Molon labe. Until then, I do as I please. Best of luck with your arm chair rule enforcement.
Up 44 Down 10
Hurting at Christmas on Dec 23, 2021 at 7:36 am
Once again, this government is failing ! How can you sit back and enjoy Christmas when you know you put so many people in dire straights?? Do you realize that so many people are suffering? The liberals are afraid to admit that they made a mistake with the mandate !! I have talked to the opposition and they said every time they tried to bring up the subject of the mandate or rapid testing.... they were shut down.... no comment..... we are the government.... we rule! Good bye liberal government..... nice legacy you have left!
Up 48 Down 9
Matthew on Dec 23, 2021 at 5:19 am
What more do they want!? Already using the charter of rights as toilet paper..
Up 45 Down 7
North_of_60 on Dec 22, 2021 at 10:03 pm
We're done with their never-ending BS; their "restrictions" will be ignored and they will become irrelevant to our lives.
Omicron is a cold. That's what the data tells us. it's a cold! 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 46 Down 9
Doug Twigge on Dec 22, 2021 at 8:48 pm
Firing good nurses with natural immunity and likely less chance of spreading covid and now looking for retired doctors and nurses who have the double jab to jab the booster is pure insanity.
Does Sandy and Kate and these health experts all share the same single brain cell..??
Up 42 Down 6
bonanzajoe on Dec 22, 2021 at 8:12 pm
And how about releasing the Rapid PCR test kits out to the public. This would most probably help stop the spread of the virus if everybody could test themselves every day. So, why is this government keeping them locked up from the public? Is it a control thing? Let's find out.
Up 39 Down 7
bonanzajoe on Dec 22, 2021 at 8:05 pm
"the threat of Omicron dangling over our heads like the Sword of Damocles". Dr. Elliot as a medical professional should be ashamed of herself with that kind of comment. This is not the Black Death plague which killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people. The unverified report of those who died with covid and its variants were only a fraction of the Black Death plague deaths.
This new variant "Omicron" is being reported as much less severe that than those before. Why doesn't she tell the public that? Because she and her government bosses wants to keep the scam going. For what reason? We would like to know. In fact it is being reported now, that Omicron is weak and any variants after, will become so weakened, Covid will just eventually die out.
This information is coming from Medical experts.
Up 44 Down 4
Austin on Dec 22, 2021 at 7:07 pm
Anoher Covid update. Blah blah blah same ___t different week.
Up 13 Down 21
Happy Yukoner on Dec 22, 2021 at 6:57 pm
We're fortunate to live in the Yukon and for the most part continue to enjoy our freedoms during this pandemic. BC just brought in new restrictions such as no indoor gatherings of any size, the shutdown of bars and fitness centres, reduced seating for restaurants, etc.
Up 34 Down 4
Rick S on Dec 22, 2021 at 4:15 pm
Hilarious. Lack of medical staff to administer vaccines because of the mandates. Still, you'd expect others to gladly come forward and be part of history and "save the day". In fact, you'd expect volunteers being turned away.
Up 91 Down 12
Thomas Brewer on Dec 22, 2021 at 2:35 pm
So what's the current situation at the jail? How many corrections officers are still LWOP, how many conservation officers are back-filling to guard the inmates?
How many conservation officers are on LWOP as well. Come on reporters - ask some non-fluffy questions.
Up 86 Down 19
Jeff Bikaboom on Dec 22, 2021 at 2:32 pm
"the threat of Omicron dangling over our heads like the Sword of Damocles"
You mean fictional and disregarded?
"She made it clear the advice is recommendations only, rather than mandates, and cannot be enforced by law."
You mean just like mandates that are not enforceable by law.
"Omicron is a puzzle"
When you finally get all the pieces together you will have constructed an image of bull@$#@.
"The Yukon government is not bringing in any new restrictions for the holiday season"
What kind prison wardens we have. Our current level of oppression the best gift one could hope for. I will be certain to read up on the current restrictions and follow them to a T, even if it means shunning my family and friends. Probably I will just sit at home. Alone. For weeks. Never mind social and mental health, and the fact this is the most depressing time of year for many.
Those of you in Tagish, keep an eye on your Christmas trees. Keep them hydrated.
Up 91 Down 19
Marc on Dec 22, 2021 at 2:15 pm
What is wrong with this liberal/NDP government? Educate the public, get rid of your discriminatory mandates that are causing nothing but division and problems. Most Yukoners are vaccinated anyways, respect those who choose not to, for gods sake distribute rapid tests and let the public start working together. Stop insulting the public with your rhetoric. We trust the CMO and the science, your politics are insulting.