May 12, 2020: COVID-19 update

Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Hanley has the following updates for the Yukon public on measures being taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 cases and recoveries

As of today, May 12, at 2 p.m. the case count remains at 11 cases of COVID-19 in the territory.

All of the 11 people who have contracted COVID-19 in Yukon have recovered. There are no active cases in the territory and 1,106 individuals have been tested.

We have traced each case in Yukon so far to its origin which means there continues to be no known community spread in the territory. We assume community spread has occurred when we can no longer trace how somebody became infected.

Weekday case updates

While the number of cases of COVID-19 remains low, we’ll update information about COVID-19 cases and tests every weekday on Yukon.ca rather than daily as we have been doing lately. The information we publish includes how many confirmed cases there are in Yukon, how many tests have been negative, how many results are pending, the total number of tests and how many people have recovered.

Keeping COVID-19 out of Yukon

With no new cases announced since April 20, we must work together to keep COVID-19 out of the territory. We can do this by continuing to control our borders and maintaining the requirement for people arriving in Yukon to self-isolate for 14 days. Keeping these measures in place will enable us to start easing other restrictions.

Under the current Border Control Measures Order, people can only enter Yukon if they can provide evidence that they are:

• Yukon residents;
• non-resident family members of Yukon residents;
• delivering a critical or essential service;
• travelling through Yukon to a neighbouring jurisdiction, which they must do with 24 hours; or
• exercising an Aboriginal or treaty right.

Information about how to safely self-isolate is on Yukon.ca.

National Nursing Week

During National Nursing Week, May 11 to 17, we’re celebrating the vital contributions that nurses make to our lives and are grateful for all they’re doing to help keep our families and friends safe and well in Yukon and all across the country. This year’s particularly apt theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health. The World Health Organization has designated 2020 the Year of the Nurse.

Six steps to staying safe

The six steps to staying safe and stopping the spread of COVID-19 are: physical distancing; regular hand washing; staying home when sick; not gathering in groups of more than 10; avoiding unnecessary travel to communities and self-isolating when required.

Latest information

To keep up to date with the latest information, Yukoners should visit Yukon.ca/COVID-19.