Eastern Health has imposed visitor restrictions at a long-team facilities due to COVID cases patients.
Restrictions are now in place at St. Patrick’s Home in St. John’s.
Each resident in the affected facilities or floors is allowed to have one designated visitor.
Families are asked to contact their assigned unit or facility. The measures in place are designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Air Inuit will finally be arriving in Nain since before COVID hit 2 years ago.
They will be offering Kangiqsualujjuaq and Kuujjuaq residents a chance to visit Nain this Easter from April 12 to April 23, 2022.
People from Nain will have a chance to visit either Kuujjuaq or Kangiqsualujjuaq. People from Nain, advertise this please.
You can use your beneficiary number, if you don’t have one, there will be a 30% discount.
You can call reservations at Air Inuit to book a reservation starting today at 1-800-361-2965.
If there is not enough demand, the flights will have to be cancelled.
Air Inuit will not make money with this.
Officers with the Resource Enforcement Division have conducted two separate investigations into groups for allegedly illegally harvesting caribou in Labrador.
On Monday, February 28, 2022, Resource Enforcement Officers responded to complaints of illegal caribou harvesting in Northern Labrador where they located snowmobilers and snowmobiles with several caribou and caribou parts in the area of a cabin. The individuals were investigated in relation to illegal harvesting.
On Thursday, March 10, 2022, Resource Enforcement Officers investigated several snowmobilers for alleged illegal harvesting of caribou in Southeastern Labrador. The Resource Enforcement officers from the Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Port Hope Simpson offices coordinated the response with support from the NunatuKavut Community Council and the Cartwright Office of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Under the Endangered Species Act, a first conviction of this nature may result in a fine between $1,000 and $50,000 or a term of imprisonment of up to three months or both. For subsequent convictions the sentences may increase depending on the situation.
The public is encouraged to report suspected illegal hunting activity. Information provided by the public plays a significant role in assisting investigations being carried out by Resource Enforcement Officers. Report suspicious activity anonymously at any time, by calling 1-877-820-0999 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Anonymous reports can also be submitted online at www.nlcrimestoppers.com or www.stoppoaching.ca.
Since the last update on March 17, there continues to be COVID-19 activity in Nain, Hopedale, Postville, Makkovik and Rigolet.
While all provincial restrictions have been lifted, including capacity limits, masking, and proof of vaccination requirements, the general public is encouraged to continue wearing a well-fitting mask in all indoor public settings.
The virus that causes COVID-19 will likely continue to present itself in all Labrador Inuit communities, and that activity may or may not be documented or reported.
Individuals with symptoms, with no known exposure to the virus, should contact 811 or complete the online assessment tool at COVID Assessment and Referral (HOME – NLCHI) to determine if testing is required.
There are also 28 (minus 3 since last update) confirmed active cases of COVID-19 in Voisey’s Bay.
There are 24 (plus 2 since last update) close contacts in isolation. All positive cases and close contacts are in isolation.
The next update will be on Thursday, March 24.
World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is recognized on March 24th each year, it is an official global public health campaign of the World Health Organization.
Megan Hudson is the Public Health Nurse for the Nain Department of Health and Social Development.
She says that they held an event at the JS Centre yesterday to commemorate World TB Day.
For this event, they had planned food, merchandise bingo for all ages, and prizes.
Click here to hear more from Hudson.
There are now 31 hospitalizations in Newfoundland and Labrador due to COVID-19—the highest number since the pandemic began.
Of those hospitalizations, only 3 are in critical care.
In the meantime, two new deaths are being reported in the province today since the last update on Friday.
That brings to 87 the total number of people in the province who have died as a result of the virus.
Meanwhile, the number of PCR confirmed COVID cases reported in the province today has dropped to 324.
Last week the province changed its eligibility criteria for PCR tests, limiting eligibility to certain vulnerable groups including seniors over the age of 60, the immunocompromised, the very young and frontline health care workers.
The English School District is clarifying information released last week regarding the availability of rapid test kits through the K-12 system.
By now, most students should have come home with 10 free rapid test kits for use at home.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald had indicated that the kits can be shared with family and friends, and that there is no limit to the number of kits available to students if they run out.
The province received 3 million rapid test kits for distribution through schools, post-secondary institutions, health care facilities and ambulance services.
The English School District says there is no unlimited supply of rapid test kits in schools at this time. In a release issued today to parents, the school district says ten kits were recently provided to each student and a further ten per student will be provided through the schools in the near future.
If a student or their family members do not need the rapid test kits that they are provided, they are welcome to distribute them to family, friends and neighbours as they see fit.
Parents can contact the school to request replacement kits for students in their households as needed.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women’s Association has three new Board of Directors.
The Association was seeking new board for a couple of months.
The National Inuit Women’s group spokesperson, Amanda Deseure made the announcement last Tuesday.
Returning member Gerri Sharpe and new members Pauletta Trembley and Michelle Gruben will make up the membership executive leadership at the National Inuit Women’s Organization based in Ottawa.
On March 10, former vice-president Gerri Sharpe was acclaimed to the position interim president for a one-year term, following the departure of long-time president of Rebecca Kudloo in February.
Sharpe represents Yellowknife and previously served on the Inuvik Transition House board foe than seven years.
In the media release, Sharpe hopes to “fill the big shoes, left for her.”
She said, “I am honored put the trust in me. I am also excited of the work that is ahead of us. With the team Pauktuutit has, we will be doing things”.
Replacing Sharpe as Vice-President for a one-year term in Happy Valley-Goose Bay representative Pauletta Tremblett. She currently works with Nunatsiavut Government as the Inuit Survey Coordinator.
Tremblett says she is “honored” to lead the board.
Elected to full three-year term as secretary-treasurer, Michelle Gruben, a new board member who represents Inuvialuit Region.
Gruben says she is looking forward to bringing her strong understanding of budgets and auditing Pauktuutit’s team.
She added “being a board member for Pauktuutit, I am honored to be working with strong outspoken ladies. We will all work together to be a strong voice for all our other Inuit Women and families in Canada”.
Sharpe, Tremblett and Gruben will lead the 15 members of Pauktuutit’s Board of Directors.
The Nunatsiavut Government released the COVID-19 update on Thursday, March 17.
Since the last update on March 14, ongoing COVID-19 activity has been confirmed in Nain, Hopedale, Postville, Makkovik and Rigolet.
While all provincial restrictions have been lifted, including capacity limits, masking, and proof of vaccination requirements, the general public is encouraged to continue wearing a well-fitting mask in all indoor public settings.
The virus that causes COVID-19 will likely continue to present itself in all Labrador Inuit communities, and that activity may or may not be documented or reported.
Individuals with symptoms, with no known exposure to the virus, should contact 811 or complete the online assessment tool at COVID Assessment and Referral to determine if testing is required.
While scheduled COVID-19 briefings have come to an end, the Provincial Government will continue to report COVID-19 trends in the province via a new interactive dashboard. The dashboard replaces the Department of Health and Community Service’s regular COVID-19 news releases and social media posts.
The new interactive dashboard will be updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at noon. The dashboard will not include the age and vaccination status of those who have died due to COVID-19 on a regular basis, given these are small numbers. Instead, an update will only be provided in groups of ten to protect privacy.
Additionally, the number of PCR tests administered in the province will no longer be reported, as it is not an accurate representation of the testing occurring due to the widespread use of rapid antigen self-testing and point-of-care rapid molecular testing in the Regional Health Authorities.
Please note that the dashboard may be temporarily unavailable during times when it is being updated.