Yukon COVID-19 update: Indoor visits allowed at care homes, fewer news conferences

Indoor visits are now allowed at Yukon's long-term care facilities, the territory's chief medical officer of health said on Wednesday.

Dr. Brendan Hanley said residents of the facilities can have two people visit them indoors, along with two others for visits outdoors.

"There are still strict guidelines to follow: screening upon entry, mask and hand-sanitizer use, but contact will be permitted," he said during the government's weekly news conference about the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said that the illness hasn't made itself into any of those five facilities so far.

Hanley didn't immediately have an answer for when volunteers can return.

He said he has been paying attention to the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in Yukon's bubble partner, B.C., and there's no need to reimpose quarantine requirements at the moment.

In part, that's because most cases in the province can be traced to known contacts, Hanley said.

"We have managed over six weeks in the B.C. bubble, during which we have had only one new case of COVID-19 in Yukon," he said.

"We've shown that we can stay the course, and that we can tolerate the increased risk of opening our doors with B.C."

The territory announced its first positive case of COVID-19 in more than three months on Aug. 7. The case involved a Whitehorse resident who was believed to be in the city during an infectious period.

Hanley had warned Yukoners on July 31 that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 after two visitors to the territory tested positive for the disease after returning home.

He said that there will be no more news conferences for announcing new cases of COVID-19, unless there are aspects of the cases that stand out. 

"I think it's a way that we can normalize, to some extent, the existence of COVID-19 in our world," he said.

"I will, as always, do my best to respond to media questions."

The government will continue to send out news releases about new cases, update numbers on its website, and hold the standard weekly updates, he said.

Premier Sandy Silver spent part of the news conference going over numbers related to the territory's enforcement team, whom he said stop drivers before they get into the territory to inform them about rules.

He said that a little more than 34,000 vehicles were stopped since April 29. Those stops involved 6,303 Yukon residents, 4,139 B.C. residents, 8,143 people from outside the bubble, 188 residents of other Canadian territories, and about 15,000 people travelling through the territory.

The territory has given out 185 decals, and the enforcement team has received 559 complaints, Silver said.

Most Yukon students head back to class on Thursday with new COVID-19 restrictions in place, including physical distancing, staggered drop-off and pick-up times, limited intermingling, and new rules for school buses.  

Students from kindergarten to Grade 9 will go to school full-time, five days a week.

Older students in Whitehorse — those in Grades 10 to 12 — will only attend school in-person for half of the day, while studying at home or somewhere else for the rest. High school students outside of Whitehorse will be in class full-time.

"I think there's a fundamental principle that, as far as I know, everyone has agreed on, and that is: The safest place for kids to be is in school in a face-to-face environment. We know that this is not a zero-risk situation," Dr. Hanley said, adding that there is a "small" risk of COVID-19 getting into schools.

While they're not mandatory, Hanley has recommended that students over the age of 10 wear masks, where possible.

"The fact that we are able to open schools shows just how well Yukon is doing," Silver said.