Tuktoyaktuk is officially Covid-19 free.
Numbers accurate to 9 a.m. Dec. 13 were published on the GNWT’s Covid-19 dashboard sometime after 5 p.m. The GNWT’s community tracker is also now fully functional.
Tuktoyaktuk’s month-long Covid-19 ordeal began Nov. 7 after several Covid-19 cases were confirmed at Mangilaluk school. Within a week, over 100 people or at least 10 per cent of the hamlet’s population were confirmed as infected by the virus, which has killed 29,941 Canadians so far and infected over 1.84 million. However, no deaths were recorded during the Tuktoyaktuk outbreak or the Inuvik outbreak.
Hamlet officials have dilligently worked to keep Covid-19 out of the community since the pandemic was declared in March of 2020, at times operating checkstops and offering a $10,000 lottery to encourage people to get vaccinated. However, vaccinations in the community still lag behind much of the Beaufort Delta and the NWT, with the GNWT reporting only 65 per cent of the population having gotten two shots. 81 per cent have gotten at least one shot and 18 per cent remain unvaccinated.
The deep cleaning of Magilaluk School is complete and classes officially resumed Dec. 13 at 8:30 a.m.
Parents who are uncomfortable with kids returning so quickly are permitted to keep their child home, but learning packages will be sent home as needed. At the school, new safety precautions are in place, including screening tools for staff and students, occupancy limits in washrooms, limiting visits to teh school, and mandatory masks for staff and students.
Parents will be required to screen their children each morning and keep them home if showing one major or two minor symptoms associated with Covid-19.