Rapid response team heading to Old Crow, Yukon, to tackle COVID-19

A rapid response team is being sent to Old Crow, Yukon, this week to help with the COVID-19 situation there, Premier Sandy Silver said Wednesday.

He made the announcement during a news conference on Wednesday, accompanied by Yukon's acting Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Catherine Elliot.

The rapid response team is set to provide "testing support" in Old Crow, Elliott said.

This could include using rapid molecular testing in a health centre or community setting, she said, and it could include social supports "depending on the community's needs."

Last Thursday, the Vuntut Gwitchin Government in Old Crow passed additional measures requiring all residents to self-isolate and stay inside their homes for 14 days.

The isolation period took effect last Friday. Each residence is allowed to form a social bubble with one other household, masks need to be worn in public spaces, and people are able to go on the land for traditional purposes as long as they follow the rules. 

Non-essential travel to and from the community has been barred. There are four active cases there right now, and two recovered as of Tuesday, Elliott said, and none have been severe.

She said the majority of cases were introduced from outside the community or through close household contacts. She said the territory is not currently seeing community transmission in Old Crow.

"We're watching to see if there is spread in the community," Elliott said. "Old Crow community has really taken this bull by the horns and [is using] all the tools in their toolbox including supporting people at home with food and necessities." 

There are no Omicron cases in the territory right now, Elliott said on Wednesday, as the first two confirmed known cases of the variant in the territory, announced a week ago, have recovered.

However, Elliott said that in time, Omicron "will become the dominant variant" in the Yukon.

"What we do now is about how much we can slow the time when Omicron is spreading in our community and how much we can abate or protect ourselves against any severe disease that Omicron could cause," she said.

Since Omicron is "so transmissible" she warned that when the variant is in Yukon, "it will infect a lot more people."

One thing I've seen time and again throughout this pandemic is people think they're going to get infected by somebody who's foreign or from away or from a different community or a different social group," Elliott said.