'Sheer volume' of COVID-19 infections in N.W.T. will lead to hospitalizations, says N.W.T. top doc
CBC
The N.W.T.'s chief public health officer said the 'sheer volume' of new COVID-19 cases across the Northwest Territories will eventually lead to more hospitalizations too.
Dr. Kami Kandola said during a Wednesday news conference that there have been about 125 new cases a day during the past week in the N.W.T.
"If we continue at this rate, we will start to see the lag indicator of hospitalization start to increase," she said.
That is consistent with what's been happening elsewhere in Canada and around the world, she added.
So far, since the Omicron variant has become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the N.W.T., there has been one hospitalization reported due to COVID-19.
The territory reported 1,197 active COVID-19 cases Wednesday, an increase of 123 since Tuesday. The number of hospitalizations and ICU admissions remained the same at 63 and 20, respectively.
The majority of cases continue to be in Yellowknife, with 662. There are 217 in the Tłı̨chǫ region and 122 in the Beaufort Delta. There are also 65 in the Shatu, 52 in the Dehcho, 42 in the Hay River area and 37 in Fort Smith.
Missed the news conference? Watch it here?
Unlike in other jurisdictions across Canada where at-home rapid antigen tests are being distributed widely among the population, N.W.T. health officials said they're going to continue to distribute them only to priority groups for now.
Those groups include school children, daycares and day homes, people who work in high risk settings and travellers.
Health Minister Julie Green said the territory will receive its per capita share of the 140 million rapid antigen tests that the federal government announced last week it was going to distribute across the country.
However, she added the territory doesn't know when it will receive its share of the tests.
"Without that supply secure, we do have to use the tests that we have in stock wisely," said Green.
Dr. AnneMarie Pegg, the territory's medical director,added the current supply of rapid tests can't be distributed to everyone who is interested in receiving one.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.