No new COVID-19 cases in Nunavut for 2nd day in a row

Two recoveries bring active cases to 10, government says

There are 10 active COVID-19 cases in Nunavut on Sunday as the government continues to report recoveries while no new cases have been confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. (Image by PIR04D from Pixabay)

By Nunatsiaq News

For the second day in a row, there are no new COVID-19 cases to report in Nunavut, Premier Joe Savikataaq announced on Twitter on Sunday.

The recoveries of two more people in Iqaluit who had been diagnosed with the respiratory illness means the number of active cases has fallen to 10. All of Nunavut’s active cases are in Iqaluit, which has been in an outbreak since mid-April.

The government imposed a lockdown in Iqaluit, which included public health restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the disease that has claimed four lives in Nunavut and more than 25,000 across Canada.

A local state of emergency that was declared by Iqaluit city council early in May remains in place. It gives the municipality additional power to prevent the spread of the disease.

Nationally, the number of active cases has been gradually decreasing over the past month. It fell to 37,808 as of Saturday from 39,903 on Friday, the federal government’s COVID-19 website states.

Government of Nunavut officials are scheduled to update the media about the territory’s COVID-19 situation. While the legislature is sitting this week, those briefings will not be streamed. Nunatsiaq News will have coverage of the update on Monday.

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(9) Comments:

  1. Posted by The Old Trapper on

    An issue that has received no attention yet is Nunavut’s poor vaccination rate. As of today;
    .
    % of population vaccinated (at least 1 dose) = 43.3%
    % of population (12+) vaccinated = 58.4%
    % of received doses administered = 69.1%
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    There are reasons for the first two issues, Nunavut has a large population of young people, and the Pfizer vaccine has just been approved for 12+ year olds. Up to now Nunavut has received only the Moderna vaccine due to initial issues of maintaining the Pfizer vaccine at supercold temperatures.
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    What’s the issue with the number of vaccines administered? Nunavut has 13,943 doses on hand and only requires 2,931 be kept aside for second doses, leaving 11,012 doses, enough for an additional 5,506 people (1st & 2nd dose).
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    If roughly 30% of the population is under 18 then Nunavut should by now have vaccinated 70% of the population – there’s enough vaccine on hand today to vaccinate another 5, 506 with two doses or 11,012 with at least one dose. So what’s the holdup?
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    If these trends continue Nunavut will not have enough people vaccinated to have herd immunity – expect Covid-19 to continue to pop up when society opens up again. This time it’s possible that it will get to every community unless more people get vaccinated.
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    The GN needs to do everything possible to get people vaccinated (and yes this does mean draws, lotteries, and maybe requiring vaccinations for school, medical escorts, etc.)

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    • Posted by Alan Klie on

      I think we’re still doing better than the rest of the country. However, I agree that as many people as possible should be vaccinated, including youth. Like I said in an earlier post, I think one of the best incentives to get vaccinated would be to exempt fully vaccinated individuals (2nd dose + 2 weeks) from isolation. The science shows that the odds of contracting or passing on COVID-19 once fully vaccinated are remote. As well, even if acquired, COVID-19 seems to have a much more benign impact on young people. The federal government’s guidelines say that restrictions can start to be lifted when eligible adult vaccination reaches 75% (1 dose) and 20% (2 doses) and we’re very close to achieving that. I don’t think our young population should impact that or makes us more vulnerable. We’re simply not seeing any sort of catastrophic effects even in our current situation and I don’t see that changing.

      • Posted by The Old Trapper on

        But Nunavut is not doing better than the rest of the country.
        .
        When compared to the other two territories;
        Yukon is at 77.0% of 12+ adults vaccinated and 92.3% doses used.
        NWT is at 76.2% of 12+ adults vaccinated and 82.3% doses used.
        Nunavut is at 58.4% of 12+ adults and 69.1% doses used.
        .
        PEI is the only province with less of it’s 12+ population vaccinated and Nunavut is dead last as percentage of doses used.
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        I do agree that fully vaccinated people “should” have more freedom of movement however this would mean that we would need people to carry vaccination cards or passports. Unfortunately we can’t assume people will tell the truth about their vaccination status.

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      • Posted by Johny Quarantine on

        “I think we’re still doing better than the rest of the country”.
        .
        The NWT and Yukon are 125 and 116 per 100k. Nunavut is 81. We are not going great, despite the crutch of early vaccine access in a country which has generally not done too great.
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        Nunavut will never reach herd immunity due to the ignorant and foolish, a large percentage of the population here.

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      • Posted by Alan Klie on

        If those numbers are accurate, then I stand corrected — I thought we were doing better but obviously not and not as well as I thought. I agree that people should be made to produce their COVID-19 vaccination record if they want to bypass isolation. I think this is a reasonable limit on any privacy rights you may have. If you don’t wish to produce those records, then fine, you have to go through isolation. I see it like going through airport security; you don’t have to submit to a search but if you don’t you’re not allowed to board. You can get an official letter from the GN so you don’t have to worry about people faking their cards.

        • Posted by The Old Trapper on

          CTV has a website with vaccinations by province, 1st dose, 2nd dose, % of population vaccinated, % of 12+ vaccinated, doses provided, % of doses used. I’ve been tracking daily since vaccinations began.
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          Unfortunately Nunavut is at the bottom. There is no denying the logistical problems for Nunavut but I think the GN needs to unleash a real propaganda campaign to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
          .
          Have the MLA get on the radio in advance of the next vaccination clinic, get nurses on the radio, mayors, teachers, RCMP, Auntie Penina, anyone/everyone. I would even support draws and lotteries in each community. Maybe donations to boys and girls sports teams if the community reaches 80%, 85%, 90%, 95% vaccinated.
          .
          Get Nunatsiaq News to publish each community’s numbers. Mayors can challenge other communities to see who hits the highest percentage.
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          I’ll even upvote Bubba’s “Arviat strong” post if they get over 80% vaccinated! It’s going to be a long fall and winter if Nunavut doesn’t get it’s numbers up to 75-85%.

        • Posted by Sure on

          But for some reason the government and Dr. Patterson are delaying recognition of the science to allow fully vaccinated people to not isolate or at least isolate at home. Of course people can easily prove vaccination, we have to prove our name and age every time we fly and so bringing a copy of the vaccine card or a government record would be the same. With rapid testing and declarations that records are real, there is not much risk of abuse here.
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          . But there is a guaranteed risk of ongoing mental trauma from being unable to leave Nunavut without losing two weeks of salary, and being locked in a hotel. Now that it is for no apparent reason supported by science for the fully vaccinated, it is worse, and arguably will be declared illegal (contrary to cases last year where there was no science, so hypervigilance was acceptable).

    • Posted by Ian on

      See you in sept at hub near you, covid passports should be mandatory.

  2. Posted by 100% Vaccinated on

    Time to drop the mask facade in Rankin Inlet.

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