Nunavut community of Arviat to loosen COVID-19 restrictions Wednesday

IQALUIT — Nunavut health officials say some COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted in Arviat on Wednesday, more than 110 days after the community went into lock down. 

The territory’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, says businesses, workplaces and daycares can reopen, while schools can reopen part-time. 

Outdoor gatherings are to be limited to 25 people, while indoor gatherings are to be capped at five people with masks mandatory for everyone outside their homes.

Social gatherings had previously been prohibited.

Patterson says the decision to lift restrictions was made because there is no evidence of COVID-19 circulating uncontrolled in the community. 

“We’re able establish links between all of the cases,” Patterson told a news conference Tuesday.

Although businesses and workplaces can reopen, Patterson said they may choose to delay reopening until they feel comfortable doing so. 

Patterson also noted that it’s been more than two weeks since the community’s last mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic. However, the Nunavut government will not share how many people in each community have been vaccinated. 

“The majority of adults in Arviat who are at the highest risk of severe COVID disease are very well protected from severe infection. And so that means that the impact of COVID-19 on the health of Arviat is much different than it was in November or December,” he said. 

A state of emergency declared by the local hamlet council on Feb. 24, which included a nightly curfew, also ended Tuesday morning. 

The community of about 2,800 on the western shore of Hudson Bay is the only place in Nunavut that has active cases of COVID-19, with 23. It was also the centre of Nunavut’s largest outbreak, with 337 of the territory’s 381 total cases.

To date, 9,426 people in Nunavut have received one dose of the Moderna vaccine, while 5,517 second doses have been administered. Patterson said the territory is on track to receive enough doses by the end of March to vaccinate 75 per cent of the adult population. 

Patterson said his team will monitor the situation in Arviat and decide on March 29 whether to ease restrictions even further. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press