Nunavut’s chief public health officer says COVID-19 is here to stay
Dr. Michael Patterson says Omicron is pushing the pandemic to an endemic state
Nunavut’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, seen in a file photo, says COVID-19 isn’t going away. (File photo by Dustin Patar)
As COVID-19 spread to a 19th Nunavut community, the territory’s chief public health officer says the disease is here to stay.
“It’s going to be with us forever,” Dr. Michael Patterson said at the territorial government’s news conference on Thursday.
“We’re not going to be able to get rid of it.”
Patterson’s assertion comes a couple days after Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the highly infectious Omicron variant is bringing the pandemic closer to an endemic state, meaning COVID-19 won’t disappear.
But details like what an endemic would look like in Nunavut are still unknown, he said.
On Tuesday, Nunavut recorded its first death during the current wave of COVID-19.
Patterson gave more information about the person who died of a COVID-19 infection on Monday night. The person was over 70 years old and not vaccinated.
“I express my condolences to the family that lost their loved one,” he said.
Total hospitalizations related to the current COVID-19 wave in Nunavut remained at 10 on Thursday, and Patterson said he didn’t know if any Nunavummiut are still in the hospital with COVID-19.
The hospitalized cases have come from multiple communities, but no community has had more than five hospitalizations.
Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok announced a total of 175 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. There were 15 new recoveries. Pond Inlet’s count went down to zero after resting at one confirmed case for about three weeks. Baker Lake had 35 confirmed cases on Thursday, up from the eight reported on Jan. 13.
There were a total of 175 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut on Thursday. (Graphic by Mélanie Ritchot)
Confirmed case breakdown:
- Arviat — 35
- Baker Lake — 35
- Cambridge Bay — 16
- Chesterfield Inlet — 1
- Coral Harbour — 4
- Iqaluit — 16
- Gjoa Haven — 1
- Kinngait — 14
- Kugaaruk — 0
- Naujaat — 12
- Pond Inlet — 0
- Rankin Inlet — 17
- Pangnirtung — 0
- Sanikiluaq — 11
- Igloolik — 0
- Whale Cove — 3
- Taloyoak — 5
- Qikiqtarjuaq — 1
- Sanirajak — 4
The Government of Nunavut’s case count only includes cases confirmed by PCR testing. For that reason, Akeeagok is counting communities that recently went down to zero cases in the tally of communities with a presence of COVID-19.
Corona resting for about 3weeks?
this individual had it for over a month
according to my calendar
Here for ever??? that is so low for an ( CMD) to say about Nunavut.. he should rap up and go.. from Nu.
Its here to stay like the FLU or COLD is here forever. Doesnt mean its gonna only be here.
Search up what endemic means.
Do you know what endemic means?
Ok why can’t u get this u will and can’t not stop the spread of covid and u think u can but look at this it’s world wide it can’t be stop so why are you not letting us Inuit go back to work at the mine we can’t serve with this 75% pay it’s just not enough we have high price of food and housing and some big toys to pay but u are letting stopping us from going back to work the virus can come from people that are coming in from medical or holiday but the guys from the south can go work and that’s where the highest virus is and yet they can go work but not the Inuits why is that
If we can now agree that this virus is not going to go away I believe it’s time to get on with our lives. According to the GN’s vaccination #’s, 88% of Nunavut’s residents 18 and over have received both shots (with 2 over 100%) Why can’t these communities fully open and unmask? On today’s news conference the Health Minister sounded rather upset that not every single person in our Territory did not have the shots (I’m not sure how many shots he wants us to take but 3 is enough for me).
I believe that it is an individual’s choice whether to protect themselves by getting the shots or wearing a mask, however it’s no longer necessary for the Territorial Government to keep us under what has been basically house arrest for the last 2 years.
Public Health policy is more than just about a virus.
oh 3? 3 shots is enough for you is it? I’ll be sure to tell the virus that you’ve had enough so it should just stop and not burden you any further.
Also, house arrest for 2 years? The hell are you talking about? We locked down for 3 months in spring 2020, and then opened up for the summer, and after that only locked down when cases were confirmed in the territory. And those lockdowns were short, and ended as the cases went down, just like what is happening right now.
Your complaints about being forced to wear a mask have the seriousness of a child’s tantrum and should be dismissed as such
Ok, finally back to some normality soon. Now just tell the vaccinated people with their boosters to quit being egotistical and hateful towards unvaccinated. I got my shot but no boosters and those that got them both are acting childish and stupid towards friends/family.
You guys should see how hateful people have become to my friend after he publicly on Facebook said he is unvaccinated, I dont treat him any different but those that are vaccinated/boosted are acting like the spread is his fault, yet he never once left this isolated town since travel restrictions, even though half the town hasn’t left for a couple years, even qablunaqs. In fact, he is cleaner and more helpful than those around him in Rankin.
Me and him blame the dumbos that think they have to travel just for a vacation cause more than half of them were the ones who introduced the virus to the north, I’m inuk but man, alot of inuit are damn bear retarded for flying out for CHRISTMAS or BIRTHDAYS or cause they miss the south. Retroactively charge and fine those people that went south for nothing but the joy of it.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my condolences to the friends, family, loved ones and community of the individual who recently passed away due to the effects of this wave of the COVID pandemic.
Since we have now experienced the first death related to the current wave of COVID-19 outbreaks in Nunavut, I thought it was necessary to say something on this comment because of the potential for the harm it could cause if people adopt this type of complacency.
Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that people should use their vaccine status as an excuse to be egotistical and put others down, but I do believe that doesn’t excuse others from doing their part to protect their communities.
When you bring up the fact that you “don’t treat your unvaccinated friend any different”, and that the vaccinated and boostered are “acting like the spread is his fault” they may very well be correct.
You present the argument that “he never once left this isolated town since travel restrictions, even though half the town hasn’t left for a couple years, even qablunaqs. In fact, he is cleaner and more helpful than those around him in Rankin.”
Two words; Community. Transmission.
Considering the fact that you seem to think that the singular dose of vaccine that you received will be enough to make you believe that you have done your part and that you are protected illustrates that you need to educate yourself on the facts related to vaccines, the body’s response and disease transmission.
To single out and blame certain groups for the spread of COVID when you and your social circle are part of the problem is highly contradictory.
There is no room for bringing race into this issue. COVID does not see colour or ethnicity; it does not discriminate.
Please, do some research and try to do your part. Community health as whole is crucial. Also, stay safe and take care.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my condolences to the friends, family, loved ones and community of the individual who recently passed away due to the effects of this wave of the COVID pandemic.
Since we have now experienced the first death related to the current wave of COVID-19 outbreaks in Nunavut, I thought it was necessary to say something on this comment because of the potential for the harm it could cause if people adopt this type of complacency.
Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that people should use their vaccine status as an excuse to be egotistical and put others down, but I do believe that doesn’t excuse others from doing their part to protect their communities.
When you bring up the fact that you “don’t treat your unvaccinated friend any different”, and that the vaccinated and boostered are “acting like the spread is his fault” they may very well be correct.
You present the argument that “he never once left this isolated town since travel restrictions, even though half the town hasn’t left for a couple years, even qablunaqs. In fact, he is cleaner and more helpful than those around him in Rankin.”
Two words; Community. Transmission.
Considering the fact that you seem to think that the singular dose of vaccine that you received will be enough to make you believe that you have done your part and that you are protected illustrates that you need to educate yourself on the facts related to vaccines, the body’s response and disease transmission.
To single out and blame certain groups for the spread of COVID when you and your social circle are part of the problem is highly contradictory and hypocritical.
There is no room for bringing race into this issue. COVID does not see colour or ethnicity; it does not discriminate.
Please, do some research and try to do your part. Community health as whole is crucial. Also, stay safe and take care.
Fake news.
Atheists are rejoicing cause churches are closed, but schools are opening. Does that even make sense?
Sounds like progress to me
Do churches even make sense?
If Covid-19 is here to stay which I’m sure we all know that now. How are we going to protect our babies? Our children under 5 years of age who cannot get vaccinated? What steps are you? Or someone going to take to make sure our children are safe?? I’m terrified as a mother of two children under the age of 5.
Bring back the travel bubble!!
Condolences to the family!! Respectfully, there are still questions that remain that I’m hoping can be shared at some point. What definition of “not vaccinated” is being used? The one where they haven’t received any vaccinations or the one where they have received up to 2 doses less than 14 days prior to hospitalization or death? And how many comorbidities did they have?
How does the GN not know the status of the hospitalized individuals? Shouldn’t they be monitoring this?
Happy to see all of the recoveries!!
That’s some encouraging words.. really it is..not! I just hope and pray that the effected people get well soon and recover. Yours, caring Nunavut miut
We are clearly at the point where active COVID strains are on par with seasonal flu (yes thousands of people die from the common flu every year). So it is about time we stop this divisive, aggressive prosecution of those that may not agree with you.
While the working class continues to argue about vaccines and masks, the rich continue to horde wealth and control vital elements of society (main example being food supply).
“thousands of people die from the common flu every year”
Oh really? In the 2019-2020 flu season, there were a total of 306 ICU admissions and 120 deaths. In all of Canada.
2018-2019: 613 ICU admissions and 224 deaths.
You can look up the numbers yourself. So saying it causes “thousands of people die” of the flu every year is only true if you’re including countries outside Canada. If you’re doing that, then you can also say that in 2020 there were 627,000 people who died of malaria in Canada and other countries. Well, okay, no one in Canada died of malaria, but the statement was technically true.
I’m not sure where you’re cherry picking your numbers from, but I’m cherry picking mine from some flim-flam operation out of Ottawa called Statistics Canada, and they claim a whopping 6,893 people died of “Influenza and Pneumonia” in 2019.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039201
And that doesn’t include a number of other respiratory causes of death.
In the end, when comparing number of deaths from a disease or severity of a disease, it comes down to understanding the data we are looking at and what is included or not included in the numbers and how we arrive at the numbers. I had looked at rough estimates a little while ago because someone I know was denying that we had a pandemic situation and I had found a rough annual estimate of influenza hospitalizations (12,200) and deaths (3,500) in Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/flu-influenza/health-professionals.html#a8. We really need the read the details on why one source has one number over another, but that the number of hospitalizations and deaths we have had from covid is definitely not insignificant is, I think, the main message. And, the issue is how concentrated in time severe cases are, which is putting strain on our health care system. At the same time, we are hopefully getting to a stage where many people have had covid vaccination and/or have been exposed to one strain or another of the covid virus, and therefore the risk to our country (population health, health infrastructure, basic services, and in the end our security and long term sustainability as a society) should become lower, and we now should have another tool (antiviral med) and we should move into a new phase of living with the virus by using all the tools we have including protecting the most vulnerable and investing in and respecting health care workers instead of locking everyone down and judging vaccinated versus unvaccinated people. Sadly, we are the mere descendants of chimpanzee hordes that we are and we therefore will unfortunately always tend to point fingers and blame the other for our woes instead of accepting and facing reality, accepting that it is healthy to have different opinions, that we cannot control everyone, that random things happen (there is not always a perpetrator) and that risk management is the only option; we cannot live in protective risk free bubbles.
Food for thought… ?
This is a little frightening.
Stolen from a #nurse
“Among all the vaccines I have known in my life (diphtheria, tetanus,measles, rubella, chickenpox,hepatitis, meningitis and tuberculosis), I want to also add flu and pneumonia. I have never seen a vaccine that forced me to wear a mask and maintain my social distance, even when you are fully vaccinated. I had never heard of a vaccine that spreads the virus even after vaccination. I had
never heard of rewards, discounts, incentives to get vaccinated. I never saw discrimination for those who didn’t. If you haven’t been vaccinated no one has tried to make you feel like a bad person. I have never seen a vaccine that threatens the relationship between family, colleagues and friends. I have never seen a vaccine used to threaten livelihoods, work or
school. I have never seen a vaccine that would allow a 12-year-old to override parental consent. After all the vaccines I listed above, I have never seen a vaccine like this one, which discriminates, divides and judges society as it is. And as the social fabric tightens… It’s a powerful vaccine! She does all these things except IMMUNIZATION. If we still need a booster dose after we are fully vaccinated, and we still need to get a negative test after we are fully vaccinated, and we still need to wear a mask after we are fully vaccinated, and still be hospitalized after we have been fully vaccinated, it will likely come to “It’s time for us to admit that we’ve been completely deceived.”
copied and pasted …
This is neither food, nor for thought.
It is made up drivel that even you are acknowledging you just copied and pasted from an unknown source.
Well, it is a perspective that is not entirely unreasonable even if exaggerated and taken out of context. In the end it is about how people behave in a crisis, and how we react to fear. And this vaccine, it is true, is different from others (different technology, different result) but the crisis is also different (pandemic instead of more regional or local epidemic, new virus), so it is normal that we are in a new situation. I think it is healthy to hear these perspectives and accept and address the valid concerns they raise and identify the factual flaws in them instead of dismissing them judgmentally and without explanation. That is the only we can maintain a decent, civil, democracy.
Cigarettes kill more people in nunavut than covid 19
Add in the alcohol related deaths and there is no comparison at all. Between alcohol poisoning, violence, hypothermia and the now cancer rate linked to alcohol, covid is a inconvenience compared to the impact of alcohol and cigarettes. The vouchers being given out by QIA for COVID families isolating, is just northmart gift cards. I have been in line behind a bunch of locals using their QIA vouchers on cigarettes and cell phone minutes…
If it’s here to stay, then let’s allow working from home or a hybrid the new normal. And make it mandatory that Gov’t/City and Inuit Orgs etc. have this option for their staff.
Joke book news, not nunatsiaq news. Any little news, there’s someone on this site that isn’t happy about something, always some hateful comments. Things like COVID happens because there is someone of higher power trying to show humans who is boss, and only what he says goes. We are all adults, we all should know what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good and bad. Once you realize the answer to your questions, understand it and move on. You are not the one of higher power, so stop being hateful and embrace life as you know it. Just my 2 cents worth.
The federal government Dr. Health Department was the one who sId that and you said you hear her announce that on TV and you asked Dr. PATTERRSON whether he agrees with her. To make it short, Dr Pattersons reply was it is possible but were not there yet!