On Saturday, it was announced that the 2020 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, set to begin March 15, would be cancelled due to growing concerns surrounding the novel COVID-19 virus.

The Games were set to celebrate their 50th anniversary, a milestone event. Instead, they will be known for something different - as the first Arctic Winter Games to ever be cancelled.

A joint press conference was held Saturday at the Yukon legislature building, including the Arctic Winter Games Host Society, Government of Yukon, City of Whitehorse and Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Mayor Dan Curtis summed up the feeling in the room.

“I didn’t think my Saturday was going to start this way and the world just became a little bit smaller,” said Curtis.

Those sentiments were reflected on the faces of those in attendance. Games volunteers in their blue jackets, coaches and athletes stood at the back of the room listening, disappointment and sadness etched across their faces.

There have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in the Yukon and the risk remains low of contracting the disease.

The cancellation of the 2020 Arctic Winter Games was a precautionary measure.

“It is out of an abundance of caution today, that as Chief Medical Officer of Health for Yukon, responsible for public health in the Yukon, that I have recommended the cancellation of the 2020 Arctic Winter Games that were scheduled to be held here beginning next week,” said a tearful Dr. Catherine Elliott.

“I am making this recommendation based on the health and safety of Yukoners, of all athletes, staff, volunteers and of families - for the home communities throughout the circumpolar north.”

The City of Whitehorse, Government of Yukon and the Host Society agreed with the decision, saying they were taking the lead of the Chief Medical Officer and the medical community.

“The decision to cancel the 2020 Arctic Winter Games was not made easily,” said AWG president George Arcand. “We are disappointed, severely. We are acting responsibly by following the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

“We will be meeting with the Host Society’s board of management, our funding partners and stakeholders to work on a plan for decommissioning the Games.”

“Our government supports the Host Society following the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, we as well do this with heavy hearts,” said Premier Sandy Silver. “We know much effort has gone into preparing for these Games. We want to thank everyone who helped organize and prepare for them.

“We believe this is the most responsible course of action in light of the concerns around the spread of COVID-19. This is precautionary. It’s in the best interest of our athletes, support staff and communities across the circumpolar north.”

“Myself and administration, the city council of Whitehorse, we support this very difficult decision that was made today. We want to ensure that locally and globally we are not acting irresponsible,” said Curtis.

On March 2, the Arctic Winter Games released a statement concerning COVID-19 and the indication was the Games would still be held.

In the statement, a letter from Dr. Brendan Hanley, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the Yukon was quoted. The letter from Hanley was dated Feb. 2

“Yukon public health officials are closely monitoring the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) outbreak in cooperation with other northern, Canadian and international jurisdictions. At this point, the risk to the Canadian public being affected by 2019-nCoV remains low, and there is no reason to change travel plans for this event.”

What changed in the five days between the release and the cancellation of the Games?

“The possibility of the importation of the disease is changing,” said Elliott. “And it raises much uncertainty. While there is no case of COVID-19 in Yukon, and the risk remains low here, other places are seeing community spread with no explanation of how it is happening and why.

“We have been surprised by cases throughout Canada and in Washington State that have no links to diagnosed cases, nor travel histories to affected areas.

“The global spread of COVID-19 has been faster and more uncertain than many of us have expected. We really must take the necessary steps to protect ourselves, our citizens, our community and each other.

“In the past week, we’ve been surprised by cases that are not linked to other contacts or other locations where we do know there is spread. This suggests spread is occurring close to Canada and places in the Nordic countries.”

“The international situation changed really,” added Silver. “At that time too we said we are following that lead of the Chief Medical Officer and through the World Health Organization guidelines.

“Over the last two days alone, the cases, the numbers have been increasing. The first opportunity to sit down with our caucus and with the CMO, it was made known at that point we really needed to make a decision quickly.

“We wish we had more information earlier on in the week but this is a moving target. We really believe the best pathway forward is to be cautious.”

Arcand told the Star after the press conference that there will be no make-up Games held in Whitehorse. The next Arctic Winter Games will be 2022 in Wood Buffalo, Alta.

Other scenarios were considered, but Elliott said they did not pass the risk-assessment.

“We considered a number of other scenarios and conducted risk assessments for all of those,” said Elliott. “There was no scenario in which we thought it was safe to conduct the Arctic Winter Games.”

Silver said they were not working with a lot of time and had to make “swift decisions”.

“When it came to the evidence it was pretty evident what the path had to be,” said Silver.

The financial implications of cancelling the Games are yet to be determined. That information will be coming out later.

“We did set aside $2 million as a government for the Games,” said Silver. “We will have to go through to see how much of that money has been spent already or recoupable.

“The cost to the business community as well, the cost to the social lives, this was a big deal to the kids. Some costs are immeasurable and we are working out the other fiscal costs.

“All those details will be worked out now. George has a herculean effort in front of him as far as cancellations. The federal government has made some overtures about the budget and some monies therein. But nothing specific yet.

“Now is pretty early to have all those details figured out. We are definitely going to be doing the due diligence over the next couple of hours and week to get more answers on that.”

“Our administration will be working with the Host Society to regroup our efforts over the coming weeks. I ask you be patient, be respectful and recognize this is bigger than all of us,” said Curtis.

The Arctic Winter Games were set to begin March 15 and go until March 21.

There were going to be 2,000 volunteers, 2,000 participants and over 3,000 visitors.

There are nine contingents - Alaska, Northern Alberta, Yukon, Nunavut, Nunavik, Northwest Territories, Russia, Greenland, Finland and Norway.

According to the Government of Canada website as of March 8, Canada has 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Quebec and Alberta have each reported four cases.

Finland, Norway and Russia have also reported cases of COVID-19.

The virus has caused the cancellation of other sporting events. The 2020 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship was also announced cancelled on Saturday.

The NBA and the NHL are considering playing games without fans in the arena.