NWT issues exposure notices for Fort Simpson, Sahtu flight

The Northwest Territories government has issued two new Covid-19 exposure notifications.

According to an update late on Wednesday night, Covid-19 has been unexpectedly detected in Fort Simpson’s wastewater. 

Anyone who was in the community between September 27 and 29 and has Covid-19 symptoms or has been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 is required to isolate immediately and arrange for testing, regardless of vaccination status.

Anyone who was in the community on those dates who visited any region of the NWT with Covid-19 activity or travelled outside of the NWT since September 13 is asked to get tested.

An exposure notice was also issued for North Wright Airways Flight 142 that traveled from Yellowknife to Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope on September 23.

Passengers on that flight who are partially or unvaccinated must self-isolate for 10 days and arrange for testing. Anyone on the flight who was fully vaccinated is required to self-monitor and immediately self-isolate and arrange for testing if they develop symptoms.

There are currently 287 active cases of Covid-19 in the territory, which includes:

• 172 cases in Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndilǫ
• 91 cases in Behchokǫ̀
• Eight cases in Hay River and Kátł’odeeche First Nation
• Four cases in Whatì
• Three cases in Délı̨nę 
• Two cases in Fort Smith
• Two cases at the Tłı̨chǫ Highway work camp 
• Two cases at Ekati mine 
• Two cases at Gahcho Kué mine
• One case in Fort Simpson

Behchokǫ̀ and Whatì are currently under containment orders. Anyone who visited Behchokǫ̀ since September 13 and is fully vaccinated is required to self-monitor and immediately isolate and arrange for testing if they develop symptoms. Anyone who visited the community during that period who is partially or unvaccinated must self-isolate until they test negative for Covid-19. 

Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndilǫ are currently under gathering restrictions limiting outdoor gatherings to 25 people, and indoor gatherings at non-essential businesses to 10 people. Households are not permitted to have visitors indoors, save for few exceptions. 

To date, there have been 33 hospitalizations, 12 admissions to intensive care and six deaths related to Covid-19 in the NWT. The majority of hospital admissions are related to the current Covid-19 outbreak involving the highly infectious Delta variant. Seventy percent of hospital admissions were not fully vaccinated and 92 percent of intensive care admissions were unvaccinated. 

The NWT’s chief public officer, Dr Kami Kandola, said she will not comment on the vaccine status of people who have died from Covid-19 while there are fewer than 10 Covid-19 deaths in the territory.

Across Canada, 27,819 people have died from Covid-19, 80.2 percent of which were unvaccinated, 6.7 percent were not yet protected, 6.8 percent were partially vaccinated, and 2.7 percent were fully vaccinated. 

The territorial government will not be issuing a Covid-19 update on Thursday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, unless “an urgent need is identified.”