Ahead of the first major holiday since the Yukon government ended the state of emergency on March 18, the territory’s health authorities are reminding people to evaluate their risk before attending a gathering over the long weekend.
“With the long weekend approaching and increased COVID-19 risk across the Yukon, it’s as important as ever to consider your COVID-19 risk before attending a dinner party, cultural or faith-based gathering or other Easter or spring event,” said medical officer of health Dr. Jesse Kancir.
“Use your COVID-19 sense to assess your risk before gatherings so that you can help protect yourself and others.”
Kancir said the five key factors to consider are vaccination status, people, space, time and place. He said gathering outdoors and maintaining physical distancing reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection.
“If you are feeling sick, stay home even if you have a negative COVID-19 test. You should continue to isolate until your symptoms resolve, even if they are mild,” he said.
“Remember to respect other people’s choices on masking, distancing, or gathering as we all have different risk tolerance levels. Some people may live with those at a higher-risk of COVID-19 and they are making choices that not only protect themselves, but better protect their loved ones.”
As of April 14, there were 82 COVID-19 cases confirmed by lab-based PCR tests in the territory. Fourteen of those cases were new.
The Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) recently made a donation of almost 4,000 rapid molecular COVID-19 tests to be allocated to community health centres in the territory.
“This initiative by CYFN’s Yukon First Nation Covid Response Team will help to safeguard the health of community members by ensuring that Yukon First Nations across the Yukon have convenient and timely access to rapid molecular tests,” said CYFN grand chief Peter Johston.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com