Some Whitehorse residents calling the 8-1-1 nurse’s hotline say they are unable to get through to the overburdened health line.

“You can’t even get on hold; as soon as it clicks onto the line, it says, ‘All circuits are busy,’ and then hangs up on you,” a Yukoner told the Star this morning.

The person, who has requested anonymity, experienced some cold symptoms this morning and called the 8-1-1 line to request information about procedures for testing and staying home from work.

Unable to get through, the Yukoner said, they called upwards of 30 times without success.

As a back-up measure, the Yukoner called the local hospital. A staff member there told them it’s “their judgment call” as to whether to stay home from work.

“I said, ‘I am not qualified to make that judgment call,’” the Yukoner said.

Anxious and frustrated, the Yukoner then tried calling the Yukon Communicable Disease Control centre, as well as the telehealth numbers for B.C., Alberta and Ontario.

They were unable to get through to an operator at any of those numbers.

The Yukoner, who works in retail, was hesitant to go to work without instruction from medical professionals.

They said that when they informed their manager of the situation, their employer expressed no concern, and accused them of overreacting.

“Nobody has said, ‘Yes, be cautious’; everyone has kind of sucked about it, to be honest," the Yukoner said, noting it is detrimental for customer service staff to lose work hours.

Several hours after leaving a voicemail with disease centre, a staff member called back late this morning.

The Yukoner was informed that they weren’t eligible to be tested for COVID-19, but should stay home from work until the symptoms passed.

It was explained to the Yukoner that the centre is being overrun with calls, and was busy this morning returning voicemails.

On Monday, during question period in the legislature, Patti McLeod, the Yukon Party MLA for Watson Lake, repeated reports that 8-1-1 is overwhelmed and Yukoners are unable to get through.

McLeod said she heard from a constituent that morning who was on hold with 8-1-1 for four hours.

Pauline Frost, the Health minister, responded that work is being done to establish a direct line for Yukoners. The Yukon currently shares the 8-1-1 line with B.C.

She said her department recognizes that there are “long delays” on the hotline.

“I beg the patience of Yukoners as we work through that,” Frost said.

Premier Sandy Silver said that while the department is working on establishing new phone lines, Yukoners should also utilize medical information available on yukon.ca.

Silver suggested that many questions being asked of 8-1-1 operators could be answered on yukon.ca, thus freeing up the phone lines.

Frost said Yukoners who are displaying symptoms of COVID-19 should still call the 8-1-1 number, or a local health centre for people living in communities.