REVISED - The COVID-19 outbreak has taken another Yukoner’s life and continues to expand in the territory.

Dr. Brendan Hanley, the Yukon’s chief medical officer of health, confirmed Wednesday afternoon the outbreak has claimed the life of a fourth Yukoner.

His office does not provide details about deaths from the virus.

Hanley also reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 late Thursday afternoon. This brings the active case count to 107.

Since June 4, all of the variant testing results received to date are positive for the Gamma variant.

The total case count is now 242.

Investigation and contact tracing are underway to verify where cases are in Yukon.

“We know that COVID-19 is hitting Yukoners of every age, from one year to 90 years,” Hanley said in the announcement.

“We are working as hard as we can to provide advice to individuals on how they need to respond to a possible or known exposure to COVID-19.

“I understand that people are concerned, especially parents of young ones, when there is what appears to be a delay in notification.

“What is important to remember is that very young children do not get as ill as older folks. And, we need time to work through who are contacts and who are not.

“It is still just as important that people stay home if ill, get tested if they have symptoms and get vaccinated.”

Hanley was referring to a case of COVID in a toddler at a daycare in Whitehorse.

Several parents and relatives of children attending the facility have spoken to local media outlets questioning the lengthy delays in the government notifying them of the youngster’s illness.

The grandmother of a child who attends the daycare, who asked that her name not be published, was outraged by lack of timely notification to families.

She told the Star this morning a child who attends the daycare was diagnosed as a positive case last Saturday.

Her grandchild’s parents were not informed in a timely manner, she said.

There still has been no formal order to lock down the daycare.

“That order has to come from the government,” she noted.

After six days, her family and others were finally being notified, she said.

She was told some people brought their children to the daycare on Tuesday – because no one from the government’s contact tracers had been in touch with families.

Most of the work of notifying families had been done informally on a person-to-person basis, the woman said.

“The people have been doing the work, not the contact tracers,” she said.

With thousands of people working for the Yukon government, she wonders why a few couldn’t be temporarily reassigned to contact tracing and notification duties during urgent periods like this one.

The Star’s requests for comment on the families’ concerns from the Department of Health and Social Services were not responded to by press time this afternoon.

Meanwhile, 53 individuals in the most recent outbreak have recovered.

“COVID-19 is being widely transmitted throughout Yukon, primarily affecting unvaccinated people and is now present in most Yukon communities,” a news release stated.

“Eleven of 14 communities are home to COVID-19 positive people.”

“COVID-19 is hitting unvaccinated Yukoners hard,” Hanley said.

“We expect the trend of daily cases to  continue for a few weeks,  and we may see additional clusters and smaller outbreaks.

“Given the heartbreaking news of yet another death, it is more important than ever that people stay home if ill, get tested if they have symptoms and get vaccinated.”

Most of the people with COVID-19 infections are unvaccinated.

However, 12 people with full vaccinations have also been confirmed with the virus.

Meanwhile, Hanley’s office is reviewing its longstanding policy of declining to identify Yukon communities hit by the virus.

In recent weeks, several mayors and First Nations chiefs have made social media statements freely alerting Yukoners to COVID’s presence in their communities.

Doris Bill, the chief of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, said at Wednesday’s weekly COVID briefing that disclosing the virus’s presence in a community is beneficial because it alerts residents to take as many precautions as possible to avoid contracting it.