Photo by Whitehorse Star
Dr. Brendan Hanley
Photo by Whitehorse Star
Dr. Brendan Hanley
One more Yukoner has succumbed to COVID-19, showing the current outbreak still has some dangerously sharp teeth left to it.
One more Yukoner has succumbed to COVID-19, showing the current outbreak still has some dangerously sharp teeth left to it.
Dr. Brendan Hanley, the chief medical officer of health, reported the additional death late Thursday afternoon. No details were provided.
“We are saddened to report another COVID-19 death and our deepest sympathies are with the family of the individual who passed away last night in hospital,” Hanley said.
“An unfortunate fact was this person was not immunized. We are losing too many Yukoners to this virus. Please get vaccinated.
“Sooner or later, COVID-19 will find its way to the unvaccinated, and they are at the greatest risk.”
Hanley also reported seven new cases of COVID-19 between noon Wednesday and noon Thursday.
The number of active cases is currently at 80. They are from across the Yukon.
Meanwhile, the eligibility for youth for a COVID-19 vaccine has been expanded, the Yukon government announced Wednesday.
Anyone born in 2009, even if he or she has not yet turned 12 years old, is eligible for the Pfizer vaccine.
“This is an important step before students start returning to school,” the government said in a statement.
The various safeguards planned for the return to classes next month have not yet been announced.
Immunizers are providing both Pfizer for 12- to 17-year-olds and Moderna for those 18 years and older.
The return clinics began Monday in Carcross, and teams were in Faro Wednesday. They will travel to Haines Junction and Watson Lake as well this week.
Yukoners are being encouraged to use this opportunity to ask any questions they may still have about the vaccine.
Clinics will continue in Whitehorse three days a week. Starting Aug. 3, clinics will be held on Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m.
“Like many other Canadian jurisdictions, we are now immunizing anyone who was born in 2009,” noted Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee.
“These youngsters do not need to be 12 to get the shot; they only need to be turning 12 this year. This will allow more of our youth to be protected against COVID-19.
“We are continuing to support communities and Yukoners with mobile vaccine clinics,” McPhee added.
“I encourage everyone to go to those clinics to get their questions answered and get the vaccine.”
Hanley said he is “pleased that we can now expand our protective net of vaccination to youth who are not yet 12 but born in 2009.
“Every additional Yukoner vaccinated increases our safety net against COVID-19 infection,” Hanley added.
“With the additional rural immunization visits, Yukoners have yet another chance to get vaccinated. Please take the opportunity if you have not already. We are seeing in real time the toll that this pandemic is having on our unvaccinated citizens.”
Vaccine clinics will take place in Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay, Mayo, Pelly Crossing, Carmacks and Dawson City next week.
More clinics will take place in Teslin, Ross River and Old Crow the week of Aug. 9.
On Wednesday, for the first time since June 5, Hanley reported no new cases of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours.
“The number of active cases is continuing to trend downward,” Wednesday’s report read.
As of Thursday evening, there had been 589 confirmed cases since March 22, 2020, including 526 cases since June 1.
Those include out-of-territory residents diagnosed in the Yukon and probable cases.
“Out-of-territory cases who are diagnosed in Yukon are counted in the territory’s active count but not in the Yukon case count as they are counted in their home jurisdiction.”
Four hundred thirty-eight people have recovered since June 1, data show.
Next Wednesday, a major relaxation in virus restrictions will kick in Yukon-wide, affecting the use of masks, self-isolation practices and expanded bar and restaurant seating capacities.
Several First Nations chiefs have expressed serious concerns with the government’s plan.
See letter.
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Comments (26)
Up 4 Down 7
Orville on Aug 5, 2021 at 3:39 pm
Quebec is implementing a vaccine passport system whereby if you have both doses you can have access to non-essential services like restaurants and gyms.
Up 7 Down 1
Salt, don't get defensive on Aug 5, 2021 at 8:34 am
If you're upset about 'thumbs down' reactions, and feel that people should believe you, just tell us where you're getting your information from (as you were asked to do). Easy
Up 8 Down 9
Vaccines on Aug 5, 2021 at 8:31 am
2 doses of polio vaccine = approx 90% effectiveness, while 3 doses means close to 100% protection. The reason we don't see polio in North America is because so many people have gotten the vaccine that it's considered to be eradicated. For smallpox, the vaccine is 95% effective and requires a booster; again, because of vaccination programs, it's basically non-existent in North America. And if not for the 'resistance' and politicization and willingness to believe in lunacy, we could see the same thing for Covid.
Up 11 Down 10
Dave on Aug 3, 2021 at 3:58 pm
Immunize: make a person or animal immune to infection, typically by inoculation.
“The vaccine is used to immunize children against measles”
Vaccinate: treat with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease; “All the children were vaccinated against diphtheria”
Hmm, I don’t see anything in those standard definitions about ‘somewhat’, ‘partially’, or ‘a percentage’.
I believe these definitions speak for themselves, sigh!
Up 18 Down 15
Jeff on Aug 2, 2021 at 7:00 pm
I dunno Groucho, there are a lot of big words in that article, right?
Maybe start with the opening sentence, try sounding it out:
“One more Yukoner has succumbed to COVID-19….”
Up 18 Down 5
SIGH... on Aug 2, 2021 at 5:28 pm
@Dave - WRONG, no vaccine, NONE, is 100% effective. "Vaccines are designed to generate an immune response that will protect the vaccinated individual during future exposures to the disease. Individual immune systems, however, are different enough that in some cases, a person’s immune system will not generate an adequate response. As a result, he or she will not be effectively protected after immunization." (source: own experience, but they just word it better than I could...https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/top-20-questions-about-vaccination)
Up 49 Down 24
Groucho d'North on Aug 2, 2021 at 3:19 pm
So did this person perish from COVID? Yes or No? All the additional bafflegab that gets tacked onto these statements like: He was not vaccinated; He was in a high risk group; He was not well isolated from others, does nothing to tell a complete and accurate story about this individual and how he came to meet his end, but it does a lot to drag out the hyperbole about the safe six +1 and getting vaccinated.
Up 42 Down 33
Salt on Aug 2, 2021 at 12:54 pm
@tired of all the contradictions
The goal post is 100% vaccination. This is a political operation. Established science and common sense where thrown overboard a long time ago. They need to get close to 100% so that no “control group” of unvaccinated people exist to compare health outcomes to. How infuriated will the public be that was scaremongered into taking an experimental vaccine if it is ineffective or has negative health affects?
Israel is seeing high numbers of breakthrough infections as well, so ample evidence is piling up that the vaccines aren’t effective and governments are moving back into mandatory masking for everyone and lockdowns, which haven’t worked anywhere they have been implemented. This is a potential political powderkeg.
Up 50 Down 24
My Opinion on Aug 1, 2021 at 7:01 pm
It is impossible to believe or trust anything any of these overpaid louts are saying.
Remember when we were having next to no cases at all, but we were told where it happened and when so we could act accordingly. Now nothing but Crickets.
If this is all about Science then how about give us the Data. We aren't stupid. But no, nothing. It would be good to know if the people that have died have been very elderly, suffered from one or many preexisting condition. Maybe even immunal compromised. Please give us the science, not the propaganda. Oh and quit calling people with a single shot unvaccinated, remember when you said one shot was still very good? Well I do.
Personally I have had enough, and turned you off, bla bla bla. Talking Heads.
Up 37 Down 21
tired of all the contradictions on Aug 1, 2021 at 4:43 pm
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coroanvirus-covid19-canada-world-july30-2021-1.6123663
This just in, Headline: "Large outbreak in Massachusetts mostly infected vaccinated people, CDC study finds".
And finds vaccinated people carry just as much viral load and those who aren't vaccinated.
I don't even know what the goal post is anymore. Might maybe kinda be less likely to die, maybe/maybe not?
Up 43 Down 15
Dave on Aug 1, 2021 at 2:30 pm
@Yukoner1. When someone gets vaccinated against Polio or MMR they can no longer get those diseases, period. Not, well there’s a 90% chance they won’t get Polio or Measles, Mumps or Rubella and if they do get them in spite of being vaccinated it won’t be as severe.
I understand what your general point is but doctors, political leaders and the WHO shouldn’t be calling this stuff a vaccine or people immunized when they’re clearly not in any way, shape or form. They’re giving real vaccines a bad name and muddying the waters.
Call these current Covid shots a deterrent or some other name but don’t insult true vaccines by labeling this stuff as such.
Up 26 Down 36
ProScience Greenie on Aug 1, 2021 at 1:07 pm
Fox News? That's why your worldview is so bleak Juniper. You're way smarter than the gullible Trumpers spreading far right disinformation here. Change the channel from the neo-fascist propaganda networks and you'll see that things aren't that bad.
Up 58 Down 32
Yukoner1 on Aug 1, 2021 at 10:51 am
@Dave: "Immunized and vaccinated means you can no longer get a disease."
Incorrect. Taken straight from numerous reputable sources, like medical journals:
The Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 after the second dose.
That means that 6 people out of 100, who are vaccinated and exposed to the disease, WILL produce symptoms. Vaccination is not 100%. No vaccination is.
Please educate yourself on the science and ignore the rhetoric. The vast majority of Yukoners understand this and have done their part and gotten the shot. So far, no one's grown a third eye.
Up 21 Down 50
Salt on Aug 1, 2021 at 8:29 am
People who gave my comment a thumbs down, do you even care if what I said is true? We live in a post-truth age.
Up 62 Down 35
Juniper Jackson on Aug 1, 2021 at 4:54 am
Covid has certainly opened eyes.. No one I know will ever trust a news media outlet again. If CBC said the sky is blue, i'm running to a window to look. "News", "journalistic reporting", have become hype and propaganda. To be sure, some will still take the news as God's word, but most people now, will check data for themselves. Many are brainwashed, most are not. I will thank Covid for that.
People will never again trust government. They will question everything. I assume the government is lying about everything, until proven differently. Do the Liberals have a jibber jabber school for the elected? McPhee drones on almost as much as Hanley, but, like Hanley still hasn't said anything. Covid has been a great reminder that once your neighbor, friend, acquaintance, is elected, they become someone else; the government is NOT my friend.
I think of my Canada before 2015. It looks prosperous, and happy ish.. I visited with everyone, sold tickets for whatever group was doing a fund raiser... I didn't have to watch what I said, or to who. Now? Canada is a racist, nearly broke, untrusting, 3rd world country where only the wealthy can by steaks or a roast. Shelves are empty at grocery stores, the cost of wood is unbelievable, aluminum is incredibly expensive, if you can get it. The country takes orders from a man who never worked a day in his life, and always had food to eat and drugs to smoke. (Read his book, he admits to being a pot head).
That another person has passed away, is just part of the limited rhetoric. I am very sorry for the family, it's so hard to lose that someone you loved. I check the Obituaries and immediately send a card to the family if I knew that person. For some reason the obits are not up to date. Is that covid? Not being published in case someone suspects they had the virus?
Aug 4, masks become optional, but I don't see that much else has changed. And if Hanley has sent out a little note asking businesses to maintain the masking rule, then that becomes still masked. Saying one thing, but doing something else. I am so tired of this crap, and it's never going to end. I asked in another article, when do we line up for the 3rd shot? No one is afraid of covid now..now it's Delta, when we aren't afraid of Delta anymore, there will be another one. Today, FOX news announced that fully vaccinated persons will likely require a booster shot. Ha! the 3rd shot is here.
Up 46 Down 22
yukon56 on Jul 31, 2021 at 8:01 pm
If you are aged, have preexisting health issues life will find you. We don't live forever.
Up 35 Down 23
yukon56 on Jul 31, 2021 at 7:38 pm
What was the age and existing medical conditions? The report seems to state we are all in trouble which is not the case. All venerable, whether they would have passed from the flu or life.
Up 40 Down 36
Rick S on Jul 31, 2021 at 5:06 pm
It'll be interesting to hear this lot when the vaccinated start testing positive en masse and even hospitalized like we're seeing increasingly in heavily vaccinated countries around the world. We're going from pandemic of the unvaccinated to pandemic of the vaccinated at breakneck speed.
Up 42 Down 17
Tell the truth on Jul 31, 2021 at 2:29 pm
We were all doing good until May 25. 2021 but Dr.hanley and Sandy Silver decided to open the Yukon to Alberta and BC on the airlines. They also should stress that just because you are vaccinated you are not fully vaccinated you are still a carrier. You can still get the virus and carry it and pass it on. So quit lying to yourselves and us.
Up 35 Down 9
Salt, where did you get this from? on Jul 31, 2021 at 2:26 pm
Because it's the opposite of everything I've read. Can you provide a source, please?
Up 47 Down 17
North_of_60 on Jul 31, 2021 at 12:44 pm
We can be sure that the relevant information the CMO has omitted such as age and underlying medical conditions do not support the "Get the Shot" narrative.
This absence of transparency or accountability is why the CMO's proclamations are no longer considered credible by a growing number of Yukoners.
Up 54 Down 78
Salt on Jul 31, 2021 at 9:49 am
Pfizer’s own trial data shows no difference in mortality between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. None. Yet it is treated as gospel truth.
Up 62 Down 42
Dave on Jul 31, 2021 at 6:29 am
Truthfully, no one is immunized in regards to how Hanley is throwing the word around. Many people in Canada and the USA who have gotten both vaccine shots are still getting Covid known as ‘Breakthrough Cases’ more and more of those referred to as ‘fully vaccinated’ are even dying. That’s a fact easily verified by checking recent news articles which are raising the alarm.
Immunized and vaccinated means you can no longer get a disease. Taking the products currently being offered for Covid today is not stopping people from either getting or dying of Covid.
I’m one of the people who had somewhat of a false sense of security for a while after supposedly being ‘fully vaccinated’ but lately I’m realizing I’m probably still as much at risk as anyone unvaccinated is.
Up 60 Down 61
Max Mack on Jul 30, 2021 at 11:30 pm
Condolences to the friends and family of the person that died.
But, is Hanley playing fast and loose with words again? The decedent was too old to be vaccinated? Was immune-compromised and couldn't be vaccinated? Had only 1 shot and was therefore not vaccinated (by Hanley's definition)?
Hanley's rhetoric reeks of sophistry. Anything to convince you and your child to take the jab.
As for McPhee, she is clearly stretching the truth. Neither the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines grant immunity, so technically anyone receiving these shots is not "immunized".
I still fail to understand why any parent would stick a covid vaccine in a young, healthy child. The long-term risks of vaccination are entirely unknown, whereas the risk of serious effects of covid is practically zero in the young.
Up 57 Down 93
Your mama on Jul 30, 2021 at 6:16 pm
"Sooner or later, COVID-19 will find its way to the unvaccinated, and they are at the greatest risk.” bahahaha, please covid come and find me I'll be waiting. Is this supposed to scare me into taking an poison jab? No thanks.
Up 69 Down 30
bonanzajoe on Jul 30, 2021 at 5:14 pm
How old was this person? Was there any underlying sickness? Come on Doc., give us some news. This isn't a news item, it's just a simple report of a death.