Listen and read: Measles in Yellowknife Q&A

As of Monday afternoon, there is one confirmed measles case in Yellowknife. Here’s what you need to know from the NWT’s chief public health officer.

Dr Kami Kandola joined Ollie Williams for half an hour on Afternoons at the Cabin to take questions and provide an update.

Get the podcast of the Q&A or read a transcript below.

You should also make sure you’re aware of the latest exposure sites.

A case of measles in Yellowknife arrives to a backdrop of concern about hundreds of cases appearing across Canada so far this year, primarily in Alberta and Ontario.

The NWT’s health minister, Lesa Semmler, had already warned that lower rates of vaccination against measles and other diseases are leaving Elders and children “vulnerable to preventable diseases.”

According to Semmler, the territory’s measles vaccination rate among two-year-olds has fallen from 90 percent in 2019 to 82 percent in 2024, well below the national target of 95 percent.

“We must push back against false claims with clear, fact-based communication that empowers people to make the best choice for their health,” Semmler said in March.

Here’s what Dr Kandola had to say about the situation in Yellowknife as of 1pm on Monday, May 5.

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This interview was broadcast on May 5, 2025. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ollie Williams: What’s the latest?

Dr Kami Kandola: We have one clinically confirmed case. As of today, no further cases have been identified, but we’ve had extensive exposure while that individual was in an infectious stage, so that is what’s causing a lot of work and anxiety among those who are exposed.

We are dealing as quickly as possible to respond to concerns for those who were exposed, trying to get their immunization records and providing information through 811 and through Yellowknife Public Health.

Can you walk us through the expanded list of exposure sites?

More: See the list of exposure sites in Yellowknife (opens in a new tab)

Just to go back and explain how we got to those exposure sites: we were made aware on Saturday, May 3 of a clinically confirmed case of measles. We went backwards to the day before that individual felt unwell, and that was Sunday, April 27.

When we go through this timeline, if it’s a public place and we can’t find the contacts – so we don’t have a named contact – then we have to list them as exposure sites.

Typically, we add on two hours, because the measles virus is airborne so it’s not only the time the individual was in that area, but we have to add an extra two hours, because that virus can be suspended in the air and people can still be exposed.

How would you characterize the likelihood that more exposure sites could be coming?

If we were to add more places to the list, it would be because we had secondary cases related to the exposure and were adding their exposure locations.

For this particular scenario, we had a very cooperative individual, we were able to find all the public exposures where we can’t find specific individuals, and we were also able to contact directs contacts that the individual could name.

I just want to reassure everyone that Super Soccer was not an exposure site, because that’s the common question that we’re getting. The Super Soccer that started at St Pat’s Thursday evening would not be considered an exposure site for this particular case.

There was exhaustive interviewing over a several-day period, and I’m confident that these exposure sites will remain as is. But if we get secondary cases related to this exposure, we’ll be adding more exposure sites related to their exposure before they isolated.

So for people worried about Super Soccer, the message would be that right now there is no need for any concern above the baseline level, if you like. But if secondary cases emerged, that could feasibly change.

The first public exposure started last Sunday and then Monday. When you look at the incubation period for measles virus, it’s 10 to 14 days and it can be as long as three weeks. We are reaching the second week of exposure.

Anyone who’s exposed who was not protected, this is a time they could be showing signs and symptoms, so we are really stressing that anyone who was not protected – they have not had two doses of measles vaccine that’s documented, or they don’t know – they could be potentially exposed and they should not be playing Super Soccer.

We’re asking individuals who do not know if they’re protected against measles, or have had no protection against measles, to stay home and contact public health for further direction.

But if you have an individual show up at Super Soccer who was exposed and was not immune, and is in the right incubation period to start showing infection, that could end up being a high risk for individuals who are not protected against measles – and that includes infants under 12 months who are not eligible for the measles vaccine, people who have no immunity, who are immunocompromised, or those who are pregnant and have not been immunized against measles.

So we are asking individuals who look at this list and recognize they’re exposed and recognize they’re not protected to stay home and contact public health for further direction, and definitely not participate in Super Soccer.

Note: Super Soccer takes place over two weeks. The junior tournament ran from May 1-4, while the senior tournament runs from May 8-11.

I imagine this deluge of phone calls and that it might take people a while to get through to public health. Can you give people any guidance on how the traffic is flowing in terms of phone calls and wait times?

The highest-risk scenario right now is for St Patrick’s High School and Weledeh Catholic School. What we’re asking is, if you’re exposed, do not show up physically at Yellowknife Public Health to get access to your immunization records. On the public health advisory, which is on our Health and Social Services website, there is an email.

You can email the nurses that are also going through a list. They’ve got classroom information and staff information, and they’re going as fast as they can through that list to try to document who has documentation of measles immunity or has received two measles-containing vaccines.

Anyone in the Northwest Territories who got the vaccines in the Northwest Territories, they can access those records. But if someone has received their immunizations outside the NWT, it’s really important that they email that to Yellowknife Public Health to show proof of immunity.

Individuals who are not immune – or we don’t have access to their information on that list – Yellowknife Public Health will be calling them to provide further direction. Right now, they’re working as fast as possible for those who are exposed and at high risk.

If you’re just an individual and you’re not on the list of exposures, hold back so they can prioritize those that are on our public health advisory.

Angela asks: Understanding we don’t know if this will be community spread yet or if it will remain isolated, what are the recommendations for those of us with little ones under six months who cannot yet be vaccinated?

When you look at what’s happening across Canada, there’s been multiple cases of measles, transmitted mainly in unvaccinated communities. There’s been a lot of exposures on airplanes. Right now we have had one confirmed case with multiple exposures in this scenario.

What we recommend for parents of kids under 12 months is to avoid travelling to areas that have high levels of measles activity happening. And for the young ones? While we’re working our way through the exposures and trying to look for any secondary cases, people who are fully vaccinated should not be a risk for exposing your young one.

But while we’re trying to work through this, you should be trying to avoid large public spaces where there’s lots of individuals, just because, as we said, with measles, it can be aerosolized and it can linger up to two hours.

If they’re outdoors, it should be fine, or if they’re with people that they know who are fully immunized or not exposed, it shouldn’t be of concern. You just have to be vigilant during this period, but be aware that we have had one case, and we had a very good history of all the areas where that individual could have exposed others.

For those at higher risk for measles, stay home and monitor your symptoms. If you are immune, you can go back to school or work, it shouldn’t be a problem. But if you’re not fully protected, stay home until we have guidance from public health on the next steps.

Measles is now spreading across Canada. What does public health do now? What does the NWT do? Will there be a shift in how we manage this?

Measles is one of the most contagious, highly infectious viruses that we experience. It’s a virus that only attacks humans. If you want to know how infectious this is, if you were in a room with someone with measles and you were not protected, there’s a 90-percent chance that you would also get infected with that virus. It has a very high transmission rate.

We were growing up in a generation that hasn’t seen measles and doesn’t understand the complication of measles, especially for our young children and those who are immunocompromised. Measles can cause pneumonia, ear infections, it can cause inflammation of the brain. It has serious consequences.

We were at a point where we hardly saw any cases of measles, unless it was imported from elsewhere. We had reached that state of where we thought we had eliminated measles, but we have had a huge increase in measles, especially in our unvaccinated communities.

What we’re seeing is parents tend to have questions about measles or become vaccine hesitant. The best thing that you can do for your infant is to provide an immunization – two immunizations, at least four weeks apart, to protect them, to have that ease of mind.

I just wanted to add for parents under 12 months, up until six months there are maternal antibodies that are passed on for infants. But if they’re exposed, they still need additional support. They don’t have their own immunity.

Between six months and 12 months, if you are going to an area that has a high level of measles activity, you can ask for an extra vaccine. You still will need two more after 12 months. That is an option for parents who have to travel for some reason and they’re concerned and they go into an area with high measles activity – there is an option to vaccinate between six months and 12 months.

But in the NWT, we’re not recommending that because we only have one case of measles.

Will there be any MMR vaccine clinics scheduled in Yellowknife for people who are not vaccinated or under-vaccinated to get caught up?

For Yellowknife, it’s public health. Outside Yellowknife, you can go to your local health centre and there are specific public health clinics in Inuvik and Hay River where you can go and get your vaccine.

For Yellowknife as a heads-up to parents, the biggest priority right now for Yellowknife public health is to look at those who’ve been exposed in these exposure sites and to prioritize them. In Sir John, they are running a vaccine clinic today because the exposure is less than 72 hours. So if you were exposed to measles and it’s been less than 72 hours and you get your MMR vaccine, you don’t need to isolate if you have not had prior immunization.

Their priority now is trying to improve vaccination for those at highest risk who have been exposed and, after that, high priority will be for those who are under-vaccinated and for infants in their Well Child clinic who are due for the vaccines.

Is there any likelihood that a clinic might be announced for public access in the future, to make it easier to get a whole lot of people at once?

That will be something they could prioritize after they get over this scenario.

So in this scenario that we’re in, if you have not been exposed or you’re not at risk, we’re saying let Yellowknife deal with the large number of requests they’re getting from individuals who have been exposed – asking for their vaccine records, looking for information because they’re not immunized or they have only one dose of MMR and they need a second one.

This may not be the best time to get your routine MMR vaccine but, once they’ve dealt with this, they could look at how we can continuously increase our measles vaccine coverage.

The bottom line is we shouldn’t wait to have high-risk exposure to realize that we should have been up to date on our vaccines. The whole point of vaccines is get the vaccines so you don’t have to be putting yourself at risk by measles exposure.

For those living outside Yellowknife, if there’s strong capacity in your health centres, check your immunization records proactively. If you’re not up to date or you’re not vaccinated, get vaccinated now.

Don’t be in a scenario where you have a significant exposure and you realize that you’re not adequately vaccinated. Nobody wants to get measles and nobody wants to pass on measles.