With the ongoing roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in the territory, the amount of people going through southern isolation hubs has been reduced significantly with only unvaccinated people using them.
So much so, there were only 29 people who ended their isolation in hubs between Yellowknife, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa this past week.
“The numbers are way down and we see that trend continuing,” said Health Minister John Main, who added in the coming months they expect to finish up with the isolation hub operation “entirely”.
When that happens unvaccinated Nunavummiut will most likely be required to isolate at home in their community, said Nunavut’s chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson.
As expected from a previous Covid-19 update, the cases in Iglulik continue to rise with 55 cases on Jan. 27, up from 32 the previous day. On Jan. 26, more than half of the calls to the Covid-19 hotline came from Iglulik.
There currently are 279 confirmed active cases of Covid-19 in Nunavut as of Jan. 27 and there have been 591 total recovered cases with 73 recoveries taking place today.
Main: Stop the misinformation
The health minister called for Nunavummiut to stop spreading misinformation about Covid-19 over the internet or on the radio.
“As we go through tough times as a territory, there’s nothing to be gained by these lies. The Covid vaccines are safe,” said Main.
“Vaccine misinformation puts Nunavummiut at risk, misinformation only provides fear and it destroys trust. Those who are not vaccinated are at much greater risk of becoming very ill or dying.”
Main also asked Nunavummiut to be respectful of health care workers and noted they are not the ones who control or make public health measures, nor are they the ones who institute vaccine mandates.
“Some of our health staff are facing abusive and threatening language. These health staff are working long hours. They’re working as hard as they can to provide communities with the best possible care,” he added.
The amount of public health measures in any given community is dependent on the number of Covid-19 cases in the community among a number of other factors.
“These include the number of households involved, how fast the virus is spreading, whether or not health staff can keep up with testing and tracing and what percentage of a community has been vaccinated,” said Patterson.
Following public health measures, staying home when sick, keeping gatherings small, wearing a mask, following isolation rules and getting vaccinated are ways to reduce the spread and transmission of Covid-19 in any given community.