Source: Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Government of Yukon
Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Hanley has issued the following updates for the Yukon public on measures being taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 case count
As of today, August 5, at 2 p.m. the COVID-19 case count is 14. All of the 11 people who have contracted COVID-19 in Yukon have recovered. There are no active cases in the territory and 1,769 people have been tested. We have had no new cases since April 20.
Additional information stations set up in Beaver Creek and Watson Lake
To support the government’s COVID-19 response, the visitor information centre in Watson Lake and the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre will be closing on August 6. The visitor information centre in Beaver Creek will be closing on August 9. Staff from these three facilities have been reassigned to work out of information stations at Yukon’s land and air borders where they will provide visitors with COVID-19 resources and information about how and where to travel safely, respectfully and responsibly in and through Yukon.
Information stations are located at the Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) border station outside of Watson Lake, the Canada Border Services Agency station in Beaver Creek, the top of Robert Service Way and at the airport in Whitehorse.
The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre will be continuing online programming throughout the summer and fall. Details and information are available on Facebook and at Beringia.com.
Changes to guidelines for bars, pubs and lounges
Updated guidelines for bars, pubs, lounges and nightclubs mean that music, including singing and wind instruments, is now permitted if requirements are met. These include a physical distance between musicians and patrons. Karaoke is also permitted for solo performers and musicians and performers must be screened for illness prior to performing. Dancing is still not permitted.
Other changes include no self-serve bar service to people. Food and drinks must be delivered to the patron’s designated table. See bars, pubs, lounges and nightclubs reopening guidelines: COVID-19 on Yukon.ca.
Child care guidelines updated
Guidelines for child care services have been provided to all child care and day home operators in Yukon. Parents are no longer required to fill in an assessment tool daily but are reminded to assess their child before delivering them to daycare. See child care centres and family day homes on Yukon.ca.
Public notifications
Yukon Communicable Disease Control (YCDC) is very experienced in contact tracing and determining the need for public notification. When YCDC can identify people who have been exposed, they will contact them directly. This preferred approach protects an individual’s confidentiality while obtaining the needed information.
If this is not possible then there are three other approaches.
- When they have clear detail on locations and time, but not exact information on who may have been present and whether there may have been public mixing, a public notification will be issued.
- With reliable information that spacing and sanitation protocols are being followed (e.g., at hotels, restaurants or campgrounds) so there is no opportunity for public exposure, these places are not identified as contact locations.
- With little detail on when and where someone was, but a location, a broader notification is required, which is the least preferred option and only done as a last resort.
Visitor decals now available in nine communities
People in Yukon with out-of-territory plates can pick up a set of visitor decals at designated pickup points in Whitehorse and nine communities. They must first have completed their 14-day self-isolation period, if it was required. Eligibility requirements are listed on Yukon.ca.
In Carmacks, Dawson, Faro, Haines Junction, Mayo, Old Crow, Ross River, Teslin and Watson Lake, decals can be picked up during business hours from the Department of Environment or Compliance Monitoring and Inspections offices. In Whitehorse, decals can be picked up at the Emergency Measures Office, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A visitor decal indicates that the occupants are not required to self-isolate and the vehicle is authorized to travel in and around Yukon. One decal will be placed on the driver’s side of the windshield and the other will be displayed at the back of the vehicle.
Enforcement statistics
Since April 29, 32,104 travellers have entered or passed through Yukon. Of those, 6,067 were Yukoners, 4,115 were from BC, and 14,100 were non-residents transiting through the territory. So far, Yukon has issued 123 visitor decals for non-residents. The Government of Yukon Emergency Coordination Centre received 526 complaints since April 29. So far, six people have been fined for violating the Civil Emergency Measures Act.