There wasn’t a great deal of new information this morning from Premier Sandy Silver or Dr. Catherine Elliott, the acting chief medical officer of health.

There are currently 52 active cases of COVID-19 in the territory. None are of the Omicron variant which is sweeping the country, Elliott told the weekly briefing.

Last week, Elliott reported there were two cases of that variant in the Yukon. Those people have now recovered, she said today.

She is anticipating Omicron will become the dominant variant in the Yukon eventually, and the government will reveal the numbers of Omicron cases as they arise.

“Tighten your seat belt,” she cautioned.

There are some indications the existing vaccines will not be as effective against the new variant, she said, although booster shots may provide additional protection.

Elliott said the situation with the COVID-19 outbreak in the territory is stabilizing. The Yukon is averaging eight new cases a day.

However, tests are showing a 12 per cent positivity rate, indicating there are many infections going undetected.

“But the results show we can manage the outbreak with the layers of protections we have,” Elliott said.

Silver gave a brief update of the situation on the government’s vaccine mandate. He said the number of permanent full-time employees who have not been vaccinated has dropped to 90 people from 107 last week. That means 94.5 per cent of YG employees have received their first shot, he said.

Most of the holdouts are still within the ranks of casual and on-call employees, he added. A little more than three per cent of that sector still haven’t provided the proper vaccination document to government officials.

There is also some confusion reigning as to the reach of the government’s vaccine policy.

On Tuesday afternoon, a school bus driver contacted the Star to ask if there is an explanation as to why drivers are exempted from the mandate considering their connection with the education system.

Standard Bus Lines, which provides school busing around the territory, did not return calls on the subject from the Star.

Silver seemed to be caught off-guard by the question, saying he could not confirm if that is the case or not. He said he would investigate the matter.

Silver also said Yukoners should expect the federal government to announce some restrictions for international travel. Those measures were announced while the briefing was ongoing (see p. 11).

Elliott discussed an outbreak of COVID-19 currently happening in Old Crow. There are four active cases there, with two recoveries, she said.

A rapid response team is on the ground helping with the situation, which has prompted a lockdown of the village by Vuntut Gwitchin officials. That lockdown is scheduled to last until Christmas Eve.

Elliott took time as well to discuss in some depth why the Yukon government isn’t making use of the nearly 36,000 rapid test kits provided to it by the federal government.

She said, as she has on numerous previous occasions, that she doesn’t feel confident in the rapid antigen tests, which are commonly used. Elliott has more good things to say about rapid molecular test, which she considers more accurate.

While both tests are “easy to use, they aren’t as simple as chewing gum,” Elliott said. “We use them when appropriate.”

That cautious approach is at odds with what other jurisdictions in Canada are doing.

This morning, Alberta announced it will make the kits available to the general public as part of new COVID-19 measures it’s introducing.

Elliott added that she prefers the widespread lab tests, as she considered them more accurate and they can also identify the variant causing a COVID-19 infection.

The rapid molecular tests are being made available to hospitals and some other sectors, Elliott said.

The public health team is discussing whether to make more use of the tests, which she said is the “wave of the future.”

Officials are watching how the test are being used across Canada before committing themselves to more use.

“It’s not a completely straightforward situation,” she said.

See letter.