Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., slowly recovering after COVID-19 outbreak
CBC
Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., is slowly recovering after going through a COVID-19 outbreak.
On Monday, there were no active COVID-19 cases reported in the community for the first time since Nov. 8, when four residents tested positive for the disease. That marked the beginning of a local outbreak that peaked on Nov. 16 when there were 103 cases in the community of less than 1,000 people.
A 10-day containment order was issued for Tuktoyaktuk on Nov. 9 by the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer. The order was extended twice and remained in place until Dec. 5.
During that time, students attended school online, all non-essential businesses were ordered to close, and travel into and out of the community was not recommended.
Mayor Erwin Elias thanked the community for "toughing it out" and adhering to the strict containment order.
"We can't do it if the people don't listen," he said. "The community stepped up and that was the biggest thing."
"Ten per cent of the population had COVID[-19] and we were able to come out of it. After having over 100 people, within a month, we were able to get to zero," he said. "So that kind of says a lot about our community."
Elias said Tuktoyaktuk made it through the outbreak without a death.
"We didn't have anything really serious due to COVID-19, [for] which we're very fortunate."
On Thursday, the N.W.T. government reported there were four active COVID-19 cases in the Beaufort Delta region but not specific in which community.
As an essential business, Tuktoyaktuk's Northern grocery store was allowed to remain open during the lockdown but it wasn't easy. During the worst of the crisis, the store was down to just three staff members, said manager Ian Ross.
Stanton Tuk, the other grocery store in town, was in a similar bind.
"We were both severely depleted with staff, so there were a couple of days there when both stores were running at probably 25 per cent capacity," said Ross. "That was mainly due to staff either having COVID[-19] or staff that lived in a household with COVID[-19] that had to self-isolate."
For one week, while cases were peaking in November, the two rival businesses collaborated to make sure at least one grocery store remained open to serve residents on any given day.
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