Community outbreak of 13 cases of COVID-19 recorded on Haida Gwaii

See update at bottom of the page 

The Friday review of COVID case counts delivered some startling and concerning news for residents of Haida Gwaii, with a community outbreak noted by Provincial Health officials today.

Northern Health Declared the COVID-19 outbreak on the Islands at 4 PM providing some background that confirmed 13 cases to this point, with Northern Health officials now working to inform close contacts of the confirmed cases.

In their information release of this afternoon (which you can review here) Northern Health noted that:

All of the cases are epidemiologically linked; while the initial sources of transmission are still being investigated, it is believed that all cases are either residents who had recently travelled off-island or had exposure to other residents who had recently travelled off-island. 

All of the active cases are self-isolating at home, and clear processes are in place for identifying and informing close contacts, so they can take appropriate precautions. 

There is no evidence at this time of wider community transmission of COVID-19 on Haida Gwaii. At this time there are no impacts on acute care services at hospitals on Haida Gwaii.

On Wednesday, the Council of the Haida Nation had issued a bulletin for residents expressing their concern over the confirmation of the coronavirus in the Skidegate area, providing some background for residents to be aware of  and with a list of measures that they respectfully asked people to follow.

We will not know who has tested positive unless they self-report. There are two reasons for this: Nurses are not permitted to discuss the health information of a person with people who are not directly involved in providing medical care Knowing the name of the person who is sick will not help you prevent illness in the community. 

If you suspect you have been in close contact with a positive case: Immediately self-isolate Watch for symptoms (fever, chills, cough, achy, nausea, loss of smell and taste, diarrhea, sore throat, fatigue, running nose, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing and lack of appetite) If you have even mild symptoms please call the Northern COVID online clinic at 1-844-645-7811, they will determine your next steps.

The full text of that CHN bulletin can be viewed here.

Further information from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on the outbreak and the other case reviews for the 27 new cases province wide for Friday can be explored here.

Update: Friday evening the Council of the Haida Nation posted an updated community bulletin for the Islands, you can read it here.


More notes related to Northern Health are available here.