Community spread declared in Dln as COVID-19 case count continues to climb rapidly

Community spread of COVID-19 inDln, N.W.T., has been declared bythe territory's chief public health officer.

The announcement came Monday evening in a press release asactive case counts rise across the territory.

"After the 9:00 a.m.cut off for inclusion in the daily update to the [government's]COVID-19 dashboard, an additional 27 infections were confirmed in the community, bringing the total number of active cases in Dln to 30," stated the press release.

Prior to Monday's press release about the new cases in the community, the government's latest COVID-19 numbers showed the number of active cases in the territory to be 910, up by 220 cases over the weekend. Of those new cases, 729 have come in the past sevendays. The majority of cases, 504, are in the Yellowknife area.

The number of hospitalizations in the Northwest Territories in the current Omicron outbreak has remained stable since before Christmas.

Late last week Chief Public Health Officer Dr.Kami Kandola said severe outcome data such as hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths provides a better understanding of the COVID-19 situation in the territory than the case count.

Public exposure notices

On Monday public health officials declared Stanton Territorial Hospital as a site of a COVID-19 workplace outbreak. A worksiteoutbreak is declared when "there is onsite transmission of infection that leads to more than one case at the worksite."

Anyone at the hospital on Jan. 4 to 6 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., or on Jan. 7 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. must follow these guidelines based on vaccination status:

• All fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated should self-monitor for symptoms and if they develop, isolate immediately and seek testing if available.
• All non-fully vaccinated persons should seek a test on day four, whether symptomatic or not.

LastFriday, the territorial government issued 16 COVID-19 public exposure notices, including 13 for locations in Yellowknife, twofor Fort Simpson and one for Hay River.