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Health authorities in the NWT are working on pandemic preparedness plans as the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday morning declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
“Health authorities have been meeting daily (to plan and looking) at health systems and capacity and making sure we have enough nurses and doctors to run the (intensive care units). They're in the process of looking at their surge capacity,” as Kami Kandola, chief public health officer told a press conference in Yellowknife.
“In the NWT we rely on a lot of people from the south and as things pick up in the south everyone and anyone is going to want nurses and doctors working for them. Here the authorities are in the midst of having enhanced capacity and surge capacity as we speak. They're also looking at infection control practices, health services, enhancing their communication and looking at surveillance. Human resources is a huge component of that.”
Kandola confirmed that no cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the territory and that 34 people have been tested for the virus. As of press time there have been 97 positive cases of COVID-19 in Canada, and one death.
Asked whether additional medical professionals could be brought into the territory in case of a wide scale outbreak, Kandola said that would be up to the human resources authorities with the Department of Health and Social Services.
The health chief said the WHO's declaration of a pandemic doesn't change her emergency planning measures.
“Weeks ago we were already in pandemic preparation phase,” she said.
Tests for COVID-19, which are the same nose swab tests used for the flu and other respiratory illnesses are available in all communities in the NWT and their frequency might be ramped up.
“Yellowknife public health has taken on that additional testing and they're putting together a dedicated place where people can come in case they have to scale up their operations,” Kandola said.
Following news reports that a man in Sudbury, Ont. tested positive for COVID-19 after he had attended the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 2020 mining conference in Toronto last week, which several NWT individuals also attended, Kandola commented that attendees should self-monitor and be vigilant.
“If they do have symptoms, stay at home and call their health care provider and we will test them for COVID-19 and they need to stay home until they get the results,” she said.
“Even if someone drove down to High Level and then came back and has flu-like symptoms (in 14 days we want to test them). We're doing enhanced surveillance.”
The NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines sent out a mass email on Wednesday alerting its members who attended PDAC to read a Globe & Mail article about the conference and monitor themselves for 14 days for any flu-like symptoms.
PDAC also sent out an email to all attendees informing them about the transmission and adding that health officials in Ontario were investigating the activities of the infected person at the conference.
NWT cabinet minister Katrina Nokleby was among the attendees of the mining event.
Kandola said health authorities are focusing on testing only those people who are symptomatic within 14 days of returning from travels, rather than everyone who has traveled outside the territory or to places where virus transmission took place.
“If we tested everyone who traveled that could overload our system to the point that we're not freeing up health care providers to focus on the very high-risk (individuals).
This is an ongoing assessment.”
The exception to that practice is people who have traveled to China's Hubei Province (where the virus originated), Iran and Italy, Kandola said. Anyone who has been to those places should stay home and self-monitor for 14 days even if they aren't showing symptoms.
The CPHO also addressed cancellations of public events, following the announcement from Sir John Franklin High School that it had canceled its planned student trip to Europe.
Each event requires its own risk assessment and Kandola said she wants organizers to contact her to discuss those judgments.
“If people are planning a gathering that's outdoors the risk is a lot lower. If you're in a place where people are coming and they're not coming from affected areas, like an international conference in Yellowknife where people are coming from around the world that decreases risk. Are elders going to be exposed? How crowded is the gathering? Is there ability to have social distancing? Are people being billeted in homes or do they have their own hotel? If people come back with flu-like symptoms is there the ability to isolate people?”
She has recommended that some events be canceled and postponed, like annual gatherings that would include elders in April and May. Others, like the Long John Jamboree, which takes place outside she hasn't advised cancellation and has given health recommendations to the organizers.
“There are some events where you have to say 'the risk outweighs the benefits. Consider postponing.' But this is not forever.”