Nunavik now has one active case of COVID-19, the region’s health board announced on Wednesday. (File photo)
Nunavik counts one new case of COVID-19 in Kuujjuaq
No increased risk in the community, says regional health board
One person in Kuujjuaq has tested positive for COVID-19, Nunavik’s regional health board announced on Wednesday.
It is the only active case in Nunavik.
Having recently travelled from the south, the case was detected through testing done a week after the individual arrived in the region.
The person is currently isolating and the health board said in a news release there is no increased risk in the community.
“Contacts have been identified and reached to ensure that everyone who may have been at risk will be in isolation and tested,” the release stated.
Vaccination clinics across Nunavik’s 14 communities are ongoing, with communities now receiving second doses.
Inuit living in Montreal can now book vaccine appointments as well, at the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du centre-ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal.
There have been 42 cases of COVID-19 among Nunavik residents since the start of the pandemic and two deaths.
One concerning weak link is the essential worker. I’m not saying that this case is such, but I am concerned that it is one important route for the virus to get around once it do get in. I’m willing to bet also that if it was told, it would tell the story of many of the cases already that came to Nunavik over the past months, came by the essential worker. After a year of dealing with Covid, it’s disappointing that the restrictions are still not addressing the threat of the essential worker like a silent , hidden catastrophe.
The likelihood that someone getting off the plane having covid is not higher because they are an essential worker.
The real question is how well all the measures that are asked of us a citizens and workers are respected. Put the mask on and put it on properly above your nose, don’t shake hands, keep 2 meters when possible and respect the isolation if you’re asked to do one. There is no hidden threat, we know what we’re dealing with, what the risk is and what we need to do to minimize the risk.
To claim and or to publicize that essential workers are the cause for locals in various communities or provinces or territories catching COVID … it is like saying essential workers are intentionally reckless with their own lives and want to possibly die from COVID. The truth be told … many of us are being extra exceedingly careful … in fact, many refuse to go outside except for fresh air … we call our friends and family instead of going to their homes as we all normally use to do. We are as scared as the next person. People … loved ones are dying … not only from COVID… they are also dying from the vaccine.
Therefore … Stop pointing fingers … your actions are unhealthy and serves to create potential chaos unnecessarily. Blessings Always. Stay Safe … Stay Healthy.
There is obviously a need to look at changing the quarantine rules so we are all on the same page. Negative test south, return to your village, isolation, no returning to work until second test on day 5, if negative off to work, quite simple. Employers will have to make adjustments, so be it as we do not have adequate resources if covid is spread to deal with it, just saying.
It’s going to go out of control soon, the way some people don’t follow the restrictions.
Two nurses arrived from south, started working right away the day they arrived.
How come they are allowed to work? I mean, they are humans like us, breathing the same air, going through the same route and traveling on the same airline.
They have contaminants too.
It does not make sense for the essential clinic staff. They are dealing with the most vulnerable populations and are coming into contact with so many different people. Why don’t they have to quarantine at least until another test comes back negative??
Why do you assume that the rules are being broken? Essential workers can go to work, but they can’t go to the store or socialize etc during the quarantine period. Other measures are in place to keep us safe while we interact with these workers.
Also you need to understand that despite the best efforts, some employees are essential and need to get back to the front line asap.
We have a family here who absolutely don’t care about rules.
They people in the household keep going to school, work without their masks and even one of them went to daycare. The patient who came from Montreal was visiting relatives the day after he arrived, without a mask!
They’re never around when it’s not quarantine time, but when it is, you see them all over town.
The email address where the public can report to doesn’t help.
They’re putting the whole town at risk.
The article says that “contacts have been identified and reached to ensure that everyone who may have been at risk will be in isolation and tested” – This implies that the infected individual was roaming around Kuujjuaq for the last 7 days.This person should be charged with violating the quarantine rules. Or was it an essential/critical worker who is exempt from the rules?
If this escalates, the Health Board has a lot of explaining to do about how they monitor quarantinement and why there are different rules for different people.
I think we should have a right to know if we are intimately being served by an essential worker who just arrived from the south. And we should then have the right to not be served by that essential worker if we do know about them being so. Hiding behind the mask is not good enough anymore. Worst case for the client is not being able to be attended to by , say , a nurse, doctor, specialist, whatever, but at least it’s not hidden.
If everyone just keeps the mask on we will be fine, even around essential worker that must also quarantine but are permitted to work (that’s why they’re called essential). The biggest risk is not “essential workers” that have strict guidelines but people returning from Mtl and not respecting the rules, visiting, partying, shaking hands. The measures will work to keep us safe and limit the spread if everyone does their part. The health board has done a stunning job keeping Nunavik safe (not a health care worker) but if there’s an outbreak it will be because a bunch of people have not been following the guidelines.