The territory’s acting chief medical officer of health Dr. Catherine Elliott has confirmed two Yukoners have contracted COVID-19 while “travelling in another province.”
In a statement Elliott said the two have mild illness, are recovering in self-isolation and will return to the Yukon when they are no longer infectious.
Officials are not saying where the pair traveled to, though it was confirmed they’ve been out of the territory for more than 14 days and are following the self-isolation protocol of the province they are in.
“As with previous updates on case counts, we do not share the travel destinations of the people who have contracted the virus,” Nigel Allan, spokesperson for the territory’s Health Emergency Operations Centre, stated in an email. “This is to protect the privacy of the individuals. There is no public health rationale for sharing the travel destination for these two cases.”
Yukon Communicable Disease Control is working with the relevant provincial health authority to ensure the Yukoners receive appropriate care and coordinate on contact tracing.
An agreement is in place between all provinces and territories to report the case count based on permanent residency.
“We were anticipating that we would have cases among Yukoners and these two cases do not change the risk for Yukon,” Elliott said in a statement. “These persons were not infectious while in Yukon.
“This situation demonstrates that our public health system is working and our partnerships and communication channels with other provincial health authorities are working. These two cases are a reminder that we continue to live with COVID-19. If we maintain the safe six, including proper hand hygiene, physical distancing, small gatherings, staying home when sick and being respectful when travelling, we can keep our families and communities safe.”
The last case of COVID-19 in the Yukon was identified in April with the patient listed as recovered in May. It was the 11th case in the Yukon.
Up to date COVID-19 information for the territory is available here.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com