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(Iqaluit) Nunavut reported its first case of COVID-19 just two weeks ago, but now it has 109. The territory is trying to understand the reasons that may explain the rapid progression of the disease.
About 39,000 people live in Nunavut. The territory is so vast that it embraces three time zones. Its villages are only accessible by plane. Arviat, west of Hudson Bay, home to 2,800 people, had 80 cases on Saturday. This is the only place where evidence of community transmission has been found, house to house, according to the Territory’s Chief Health Medical Officer Michael Patterson.
There are 13 cases in Rankin Inlet, 14 in Whale Cove and two in Sanikiluaq. However, authorities said Sanikiluaq’s two patients had recovered. All these cases would result from the same outbreak.
Territorial Congressman John Main says you have to be blind not to see that the rapid spread of COVID-19 has been linked to housing problems plaguing Nunavut.
“It is no secret that there is a housing crisis. We have had problems for many, several years. Several generations live in the same house. People sleep in rooms that aren’t designed for that, ”he adds.
Mr. Main proposes other factors, such as food insecurity, high unemployment and low graduation rates, to explain the situation.
“We know this is all against us,” he says.
According to data from the Nunavut Housing Corporation, 56% of the Inuit in the area live in overcrowded housing. A recent report published by Nunavut Tunngavik reported that 41% of homes are in need of major repairs.
Winnipeg epidemiologist Cynthia Carr remembers that it’s easy for an asymptomatic person to spread the virus without knowing it.
“All of this requires just one case,” he notes. If several people live close together in the same building, these are exactly the risk factors for spread. ”
Last week, Nunavut ordered a two-week lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. In my opinionmyself Carr, it usually takes 18 to 19 days to see the effects of this measure.
“It will be interesting to see if it will be different in Nunavut,” he said.
The only hospital in the area is located in Iqaluit, more than 1,200 km from Arviat. It has 25 beds, but does not have an intensive care unit. There is a medical center in Rankin Inlet. It has six beds.
If anyone needs to be hospitalized with COVID-19, they will need to be transferred to Rankin Inlet or down south, says Dr Patterson.
“If a patient needs oxygen, fluids or an artificial respirator, obviously he won’t be able to stay at the medical center and will have to be transferred to a Southern hospital.”
However, as the situation is also deteriorating in the south of the country, the authorities must seek other solutions. The federal government is ready to intervene if necessary.
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This report was produced with financial assistance from Facebook Stock Exchange and The Canadian Press for News.
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