Nunavut to receive $22M in federal funding for pandemic, travel restrictions in effect – Nunatsiaq News
“Only go out if it’s absolutely necessary”
26 March 2020
Nunavut residents should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in much the same way as a blizzard, says the territory’s chief public health officer.
“Hunker down and wait it out in that same fashion. Only go out if it’s absolutely necessary. Get your groceries, come back,” Michael Patterson said at a news conference on Wednesday, March 25.
“It will be a very long blizzard, but that’s a safer way to keep us all safe from spreading the disease.”
There are still no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the territory, and 166 people in Nunavut have been tested as of March 25, Premier Joe Savikataaq said. Fifty people have been cleared and 116 people are still in self-isolation.
The federal government also announced on March 25 that Inuit communities would receive $45 million in funding during the pandemic. Savikataaq said Nunavut will receive $22 million of that funding and is in discussions with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Aluki Kotierk on how it will be distributed.
