When it comes to the current COVID-19 outbreak, things will get worse before they get better.

That’s what the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Brendan Hanley, had to say this morning during the weekly briefing.

The Yukon is suffering its worst COVID outbreak ever, with what Hanley said is currently 50 active cases, most of them since the past weekend, but there is no current plan to re-introduce community-wide health restrictions.

Most of those cases are the Gamma variant, previously know as the Brazil variant. It’s much more infectious than the base type of the virus.

The majority of the cases are being traced to high school graduation activities, as well as to partying at local bars, Premier Sandy Silver and Hanley indicated this morning.

Many of the positive cases are being found amongst young adults who are not vaccinated, as well as youth who haven’t had the opportunity to be vaccinated.

One Whitehorse resident, an elderly woman, died earlier this week. That’s the first in-territory death since last year, and the third overall.

Dr. Catherine Elliott, the acting chief medical officer of health, announced the woman’s death late Monday afternoon.

According to a news release, the Whitehorse resident was linked to a previous case and was unvaccinated.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of this individual,” Elliott said.

“Out of respect, we will not be releasing any additional information.”

Of the outbreak, Silver said in his opening remarks this morning, “It’s no doubt a serious situation. It’s devastating.”

He spoke strongly about people “partying” and ignoring health regulations.

Silver said the focus for the moment is on containing the outbreak rather than tightening regulations.

All of the cases have happened since the government relaxed some of those restrictions, including gathering sizes and returning bars and restaurants to full seating capacity. Many of the infections are clearly related to high school graduations.

Silver insisted organized events weren’t the problem. Instead, he focused his ire on people at “un-organized” events ignoring the health regulations.

“It simply has to stop,” he said. “If you let your guard down, it will take advantage.

“COVID is not done with you,” he added. “We will see more cases.”

With most of the infected people being unvaccinated, Silver said, this situation could have been much worse a few months ago before the vaccine rollout began.

Only two of the current cases are fully vaccinated people, and their illnesses are relatively mild.

Silver said the government will be ramping up enforcement efforts, although he was vague on the details.

His responses were so unclear that during the briefing, different reporters told him he wasn’t answering their questions.

On several occasions through the briefing, he stressed the importance of using the government’s tip line to report on the activities of Yukoners’ neighbours if they are violating health restrictions.

Silver said the popular “solstice parties” that usually occur this weekend, such as in his home riding in the Klondike, “simply can’t happen.

“The situation changes by the hour,” Hanley said during his comments. “We have 50 active cases, and one probable.”

He repeated those numbers a few minutes later during his statement.

However, he said “we’re not going to see the hospitals fill up. But we still need to be careful.”

Forty-four of those cases are in Whitehorse.

The remainder are in rural communities that the government is not identifying. Many of those communities, including Dawson City, Carcross and Burwash Landing, have sent out news releases announcing they have cases.

Many of the cases, Hanley said, are “strongly related” to the graduation ceremonies and parties.

“It’s the same group of partiers,” he said.

“We will continue to see cases”, he said and the number could “reach hundreds” before the outbreak is over.

Hundreds of people are already in self-isolation, Hanley said, as close contacts of the core group of infections.

“It’s outstripped anything we have seen before. I’ve used the wildfire analogy several times. Where’s there’s fuel, all you need is a spark.”

The government and public health are responding to the outbreak with what Hanley is calling a focused lockdown rather than a general lockdown.

That’s why so many people are in self-isolation.

“We’re doing everything we can to protect the unvaccinated,” Hanley said. “It doesn’t mean we shut down society or business. Locking down the community doesn’t make sense.”

The key, he said, is to test as many people as possible.

There still is no sign of where this Gamma variant came from, Hanley said. That’s different from previous clusters, especially in the last few months, where public health officials were able to track down sources fairly easily.

“We may never know for sure, and it really doesn’t make much difference in how we respond,” he said.

No further restrictions are in the offing, both Hanley and Silver said.

“We’re very confident with the measures that are in place,” Silver said.

The Department of Education issued the following comment Tuesday in regard to the school-based infections.

“High school graduation is an important milestone for students, their families and our school communities,” the department said.

“While the Grade 12 students at Porter Creek Secondary were able to celebrate their accomplishments at their cap and gown ceremony, we acknowledge their disappointment that the prom event (set for last Saturday) was cancelled.”

Silver also wouldn’t comment on the news the Northwest Territories has cancelled its travel exemptions for Yukon travellers, or for its own people crossing into the Yukon due to the outbreak here.

He said he wouldn’t speak for the N.W.T. or comment further on the decision.

He and Hanley continued to plead for people to keep coming forward to get their vaccinations as a solution to keep the situation under control.