Skip to content

Yukon records 3 more COVID-19-related deaths

The territorial government’s dashboard shows 29 Yukoners have died due to COVID-19
29985995_web1_220805_YKN_news_COVID_DEATHS-wb_1
Dr. Sudit Ranade, the Yukon’s chief medical officer of health, briefs reporters on the COVID-19 situation in the Yukon on July 13. (Courtesy/Yukon government)

Yukon records 3 more COVID-19-related deaths

Three more people have died with COVID-19 in the Yukon, according to the territorial government’s online dashboard.

That brings the mortality tally up to 29 since the beginning of the pandemic.

In total, the dashboard shows there have been 156 hospitalizations in the Yukon and 28 medevac cases outside of the territory.

On the dashboard, there are 36 active cases and the test positivity rate is 58.4 per cent, as of Aug. 4. Those numbers only capture lab-based PCR test results.

The territorial rate of positive tests compares to the national rate of 14.5 per cent.

During the COVID-19 briefing on July 13, Dr. Sudit Ranade, the territorial chief medical officer of health, explained that daily case numbers and test positivity rates are less relevant indicators given who is eligible for testing, how those tests are conducted, that people might experience symptoms but not get tested and that people might get a test that isn’t reported to his office.

“The utility of these measures to figure out what the real burden is is reducing,” he told reporters.

Ranade said the severity of illness and hospitalization numbers are the key indicators. He said the government needs to begin to incorporate the response to COVID-19 with the response to other kinds of respiratory viruses that will co-circulate with COVID-19.

“Part of that response is making sure that folks are up to date with their vaccines,” he said.

Eighty-eight per cent of Yukon’s population over age five have recieved one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Eighty-five per cent have gotten two doses. Fifty-four per cent of the population over age 12 has had three doses, which includes boosters and those obtained as part of the immuno-compromised series, according to the dashboard.

Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com



Dana Hatherly

About the Author: Dana Hatherly

I’m the legislative reporter for the Yukon News.
Read more