Health restrictions ease in Nunavut
Masks will no longer be mandatory as of Friday, but ‘strongly recommended’
Public health restrictions in Nunavut will ease on Friday, says the territory’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson. (Graphic by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)
Masks will not be mandatory in Nunavut when public health measures ease later this week.
“On Friday, it will have been more than two weeks since the outbreak in Iqaluit was declared over and there are no active cases in Nunavut,” said Dr. Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public health officer, in a news release.
“After assessing the risk, it is safe to once again ease public health measures across the territory.”
Although masks are not mandatory, they are “strongly recommended,” the news release states.
At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, indoor spaces such as the movie theatre, places of worship or community halls will be allowed to have 100 people, or 75 per cent capacity.
Restaurants and bars can open to 75 per cent capacity, although tables and customers must be socially distanced.
Fitness centres and pools can have 25 people in a group session, while the pools can open to full capacity.
And there are no restrictions to outdoor gatherings.
It’s the end of July. Kusugak said by end of July/early August there’d be an announcement on kids travelling with vaxxed parents being able to skip the hub.
Enough time has passed. Very few people who haven’t been vaxxed yet aren’t going to suddenly change their minds. Please release your plan. Every other province and territory has been very clear and timely with their kids travelling with vaxxed parents rules.
Please expand on this, as last I checked, the NWT had zero plan to allow for children under 12 (unvaxxed) to travel without isolating.
Fully vaccinated parents are not asking for the moon, they want to isolate with there kids in there home like every other Canadians. Kids can transmit the virus but do not get very sick, they would not be a burden to the health system. As long as all adults in the household are fully vax then I don’t see why we cannot follow the lead of every other provinces and territories.
The problem is ‘responsible’ parenting isn’t common across the board in Nunavut. When we went through our covid-outbreak a high number of cases was among children and teens because of this lack of ‘responsible’ parenting. Why didn’t the parents of these kids make them stay home during lockdown? Why should they now be allowed to skip isolation?
The choices of some impact us all unfortunately, similar to why we have alcohol prohibition in Nunavut.
The children and teens who were infected with COVID got it, as Dr Patterson said repeatedly in the press conferences, because of exposure from essential worker parents.
That has nothing to do with irresponsible parenting.
You are referring to the spike in cases at a local school well beyond the start of the Iqaluit outbreak. I am referring to the Iqaluit outbreak that had us see well over 80 cases of covid in Iqaluit alone.
You stand corrected.
Mars, if I follow your train of tought, we should quarantine all incoming cargo until it is actively scanned for alcool to make sure no alcool is flowing into this territory… Sounds like a stupide idea right? Well why are we doing it with our children!
Alcool has caused and will continue to cause more arm to the people in this territory than Covid-19.
Fully vaccinated parents have demonstrated that they understanding the risks of Covid and can therefore be trusted with a mandatory at home quarantine like every other Canadian.
If you want people to stop acting like kids you have to stop treating them as such.
Make the adults who don’t comply with the rules accountable.
Use the millions of dollars that are spent on the jail hubs to police the parents that are self isolathing at home with there kids instead if you want, we don’t have a problem with that at all because we are responsible law abiding adults.
I generally agree with you, however, my comment was only meant to possibly clarify why families are still required to isolate.
The comparison of alcohol to covid doesn’t jive in my mind as the use of alcohol is an active choice by a person whereas nobody asks to get covid. Prohibition in Nunavut is half-assed at best anyway but that’s my personal opinion.
I am hopeful that soon the isolation hubs will be removed and this will be a non-issue. Fingers crossed.
Just went shopping in Rankin and all the zombies are still wearing masks. What gives?
They have all been conditioned now, that and no one reads the news there
So, because the outbreak is over in Iqaluit (aka centre of the universe) we way over here in the west, in communities that have NEVER had even a single case, can now dispense with our masks. Oh, a million thank-you’s, great people of Iqaluit!