The Yukon’s acting Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Catherine Elliott confirmed another COVID-19 death in the territory on Sept. 8.
The death occurred in the Whitehorse General Hospital. It’s the ninth death in the Yukon. None of the people who have died in the territory were fully vaccinated, says a press release.
Between noon on Sept. 3 and noon on Sept. 8, eight individuals have been diagnosed with the virus. The number of active cases is 20.
Two of the cases are in Whitehorse. One case is in rural Yukon and five are out-of-territory residents diagnosed in the Yukon.
Out of territory people who are diagnosed in the Yukon are counted in the active count but not in the Yukon’s total case count. They’d be counted in their home jurisdiction.
Case at Porter Creek Secondary School
Elliott confirmed a positive COVID-19 case at Porter Creek Secondary School on Sept. 8. The acting CMOH has instructed students in four Grade 9 and 10 classes to self-monitor or self-isolate depending on their vaccination status.
Family members of the affected classes were notified on Sept. 7.
Yukon Communicable Disease Control (YCDC) is working with the school to perform contact tracing and ensure “all necessary measures are in place to protect students and staff.”
“YCDC is contacting anyone who may be a close contact of the identified case and is providing one to one direction on who needs to self isolate or self-monitor,” said Elliott. “I can’t stress enough how the risks of spread are higher for anyone who are not vaccinated.”
Those people who are fully vaccinated and not immunocompromised are asked to self-monitor for symptoms until Sept. 17.
The unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or immunocompromised are being asked to self-isolate until Sept. 13 then self-monitor until Sept. 17.
Public exposure notice
A public exposure notice has been issued for:
Whitehorse Transit Route #6 southbound from Porter Creek to Granger between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2.
People who were on this bus at that time are being asked to self-monitor until Sept. 16.
The other public exposure notice is the Canada Games Centre running track between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Aug. 30.
Individuals present at that time and date are asked to self-monitor until Sept. 13.
Contact John Tonin at john.tonin@yukon-news.com