Outbreak declared at Canadian North’s YK office

The airline Canadian North’s Yellowknife office and hangar are the site of a workplace outbreak of Covid-19, the NWT government said on Thursday evening.

Canadian North’s Yellowknife facilities were added to a list of public exposure notifications on the territorial government’s website. One of the airline’s flights is also given as an exposure location.

Rows one to six on Wednesday’s flight 5T 245 from Yellowknife to Edmonton were exposed.

Anyone in those rows who is fully vaccinated should monitor for symptoms and book a test for day four after exposure.

Anyone not fully vaccinated – such as young children or people from isolated northern communities, who are exempt from vaccination rules for flights in certain circumstances – must isolate in place and get tested on day eight, or if symptoms develop.

The same advice applies to three other flights listed on Thursday as exposure locations:

• December 19, 2021:
  WestJet flight 3359 from Calgary to Yellowknife, rows four to 10
• December 20, 2021:
  Air Canada flight 8457 from Calgary to Yellowknife, rows nine to 15
• December 21, 2021:
  Air Canada flight 8455 from Calgary to Yellowknife, rows seven to 18

Five other flights in the past week were earlier listed as exposure locations. Check the NWT government’s exposure notifications page for full details.

The territory said Canadian North’s office and hangar had been exposed between December 17 and 23, triggering a workplace outbreak.

“Yellowknife Public Health is following up with all known contacts. If you think you should have received communication from Yellowknife Public Health but have not, please isolate immediately, arrange for testing and contact Yellowknife Public Health to receive further advice (867-767-9120),” the territory told affected workers.

The airline had not issued any statement regarding the development by Thursday evening. There was no immediate suggestion of any impact on travel.

Other notifications publicized on Thursday featured several Yellowknife grocery and electronics stores on Tuesday and Wednesday.