Outdoor gatherings, travel plans: N.W.T. health officials answer COVID-19 questions

The Northwest Territories' top doctors answered listeners' questions live during The Trailbreaker's weekly COVID-19 call-in show on CBC Radio One on Thursday morning.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola and the territory's medical director, Dr. AnneMarie Pegg, fielded questions relating to the pandemic, such as when restrictions might be lifted, and whether N.W.T. residents in need of medical care down south might be sent places other than Alberta. 

There were also questions about Yellowknife students returning to classrooms on Monday. Schools were closed after an outbreak at N.J. Macpherson school in Yellowknife. 

"We have not identified new infections emerging in people not connected to this outbreak," said Kandola during a news conference Wednesday. "Our best assessment is that there was no transmission to school staff within the classroom."

The latest numbers on the territory's COVID-19 website showed 63 active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, 61 of which are residents. There have been 49,811 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered, and 22,501 people have had both shots.

Can after-school programs and extracurricular activities also resume for Yellowknife students next week? 

Kandola said that once the school-closure order is officially rescinded on May 17, "people are able to go back to their regular activities." 

New measures to reduce the likelihood of a future outbreak include mandatory indoor masking for students and staff, holding all assemblies, gym classes, and choir practices outdoors, and opening windows while students are on school buses and at all other times weather permits.

There will also be assigned seating on buses for students, along with unspecified "enhanced seating arrangements" in class.

Kandola said those new measures are aimed at ensuring that students can safely be in class for the remaining six weeks of the school year.

"We do realize that some children cannot tolerate [masks], but as much as possible, wearing masks, seating arrangements, trying to do as much activity such as physical fitness outdoors, will minimize — if a COVID case is introduced — that it will spread to the other students," Kandola said.

"So these are lessons learned from N.J. [Macpherson School]."

Watch Thursday's Trailbreaker phone-in with Kandola and Pegg here: 

Will restrictions around outdoor gatherings be lifted anytime soon? 

Kandola said it's too early to say when the N.W.T might lift some restrictions, as officials continue to deal with the outbreak in Yellowknife and monitor what's happening elsewhere in Canada.

However, she said there is good news, as it appears the third wave in Canada has "crested." Any infections associated with the Yellowknife school outbreak should also resolve in the next couple of weeks, she said.

"It does seems optimistic that end of May that we can start lifting our outdoor restrictions," Kandola said. But she offered no specifics.

"The next two weeks we just want to make sure that people are isolating responsibly, we don't get community transmission, before I start talking about outdoor restrictions — because it may start confusing people."

Can someone who has been vaccinated still transmit the virus?

Pegg said the evidence is still being collected, to try to determine how often vaccinated people transmit the virus. She said it's a difficult question to study.

"What we do know is that it looks like the vaccine is pretty good at preventing transmission," Pegg said.

"But again, that's something that still under quite a bit of study, and that could change as more evidence comes available."

If I'm thinking of travelling this summer within Canada, is it safer to drive or fly?

Kandola said there hasn't been any major transmission of COVID-19 associated with air travel in Canada.

"Flying is still a safe option, if you're wearing a mask, if you're fully vaccinated, you're washing your hands and you're following public health measures," she said.

She said road travel has its own risks not associated with COVID-19.

"Driving always has a higher risk of a motor vehicle accident."

Can the N.W.T. send medical patients to other jurisdictions, if Alberta is struggling with COVID-19 cases? 

Pegg said the territory has a long-standing agreement with Alberta to treat N.W.T patients as equal to Alberta patients when it comes to necessary medical care. That agreement still stands, she said.

Sending N.W.T. patients elsewhere would require a similar agreement with those other jurisdictions, she said.

"The issue with negotiating an additional agreement with other provinces would be numerous, but some of those would include the fact that some of these other provinces have agreements with other territories such as Yukon or Nunavut, so they would have to look at their capacity," Pegg said.

"So at this point, we're not looking at expanding that, but certainly we've been assured by Alberta that if the situation were to become such that Alberta residents were also requiring services outside of their province, that the N.W.T. would be considered equal to that."

Why don't health officials post notices in areas where vaccination rates are lower, to inform people about the risk of visiting those areas?

Kandola referred to the territory's overall rate of vaccination, and said "coercion" and "punishment" are tactics that don't work in encouraging vaccine uptake.

"We have to be very careful in not stigmatizing populations who have allergies or can't take the vaccine," she said.

"We can't endorse punitive tactics."