Shared smoking breaks, broken rules: What led to Nunavut’s first COVID 19 cases? – APTN
May 03, 2021
Broken isolation rules, shared cigarettes and fear of extended isolation periods are some of the findings in a report that sheds light on how Nunavut’s first cases of COVID-19 suddenly appeared last November.
For eight months, while outbreaks erupted across the country, Nunavut remained free of infection, with the exception of some cases among mine workers from outside the territory.
That was partly because Nunavut has some of the tightest public health measures in the country. In March 2020, the territory restricted travel to residents only and required anyone who left to complete a 14-day isolation period in a hotel outside Nunavut before returning.
But health officials repeatedly warned that it was not a matter of if, but when COVID-19 would show up.
On Nov. 6, 2020, Nunavut reported its first case of the novel coronavirus in Sanikiluaq, a Hudson Bay community of about 850 people.
It soon appeared in other communities, including Arviat, where an outbreak swelled to 339 cases in the community of about 2,800.
