Questions over how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic continued to bedevil the Yukon government Wednesday in the legislature. Yukon Party MLA Scott Kent ( Copperbelt South) pressed the government on how it plans to handle alerting the public if a case or outbreak occurs at a school.

“The government has stated that, if there is a case in a school, not everyone who attends that school will be notified,” Kent said.

“We’ve heard from a number of school communities that are very concerned with this approach. They feel that this information is needed to make decisions about their health and safety and the health and safety of their kids.

“Why does the government not think it is necessary to notify everyone who attends a school if there are positive cases discovered there?” Kent asked.

“It was reported that, instead of notifying everyone at a school that a case was discovered there, administrators would only be notified on a confidential basis.

“This means that parents, students, and, of course, teachers might never find out if there are positive COVID-19 cases discovered in their school. Teachers may have been exposed as they move throughout the school or have supervision responsibilities at recess.”

The question was answered by Tourism and Culture Minister Jeanie McLean. She said the government defers to the Yukon Communicable Disease Control Unit (YCDC) and its policies when it comes to handling such issues.

“The Yukon Communicable Disease Control Unit will identify and directly notify anyone who has been in close contact with that case,” McLean said.

“They will provide direction on who should stay home and self-isolate. A confirmed case will not necessarily mean that a school will be closed. Again, YCDC will provide direction on who needs to stay home and isolate, which may include specific classes or groups of students.”

After Kent continued to ask questions on the issue, McLean reiterated the government follows the lead of territorial medical professionals when it comes to setting notification policies.

“We are following the lead of the chief medical officer of health (Dr. Brendan Hanley). He is an expert in this field,” McLean said.

That did little to mollify Kent. He noted that other jurisdictions, notably Alberta and British Columbia, make public notifications of schools that have had positive cases or outbreaks.

That’s a distinctly different approach than what the Yukon is seeing, Kent said. He continued to question why there is such a disparity in information on the virus that is being made public.

McLean didn’t rise to the bait – nor did she change her answer.

“If there is a confirmed case in Yukon, the Yukon Communicable Disease Control Unit will identify and directly notify everyone who has been in close contact with that case,” she told the legislature.

“They will provide direction on who should stay home and self-isolate. A confirmed case will not necessarily mean that a school will be closed.”

She added the approach the government is taking is drawn from a need to respect privacy issues surrounding personal health information of anyone who is infected. It’s a balancing act between accommodating the intense interest in the pandemic and respecting those privacy issues, she added.

“We are not Alberta,” McLean said.

Yukon Party critics also continued to press the government for an explanation as to why it failed to publish notices on its website that passengers on three recent Air North flights had suffered potential exposure to the virus.

Air North published the information on its website and social media last weekend – yet no information appeared on the official government website.

The matter first came up earlier in the week, and questions were addressed to Pauline Frost, the minister of Health and Social Services.

At that time, Frost said it “wasn’t her responsibility” to make sure that information appeared.

That answer didn’t sit well with the Yukon Party, whose members continued to attack Frost Wednesday afternoon.

The continued questions prompted Premier Sandy Silver to rise to defend Frost.

“I believe that the minister spoke very eloquently today about the shared responsibilities,” he said.

“I want to thank her for her leadership on that, making sure that she is one part of a collaborative government on that when it comes to not only the pandemic response, but Health and Social Services reaching out and through her leadership in housing as well, and her many partners in governments across Yukon and nationally. It is an extraordinary job on so many different fronts.”