TODAY, Wednesday, March 3rd, Newfoundland and Labrador has 3 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The 3 new confirmed cases, which are all under investigation by Public Health, are as follows:

In the Eastern Health region:

• 2 between 20-29 years of age; and
• One between 50-59 years of age

Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway. Anyone considered a close contact has been advised to quarantine.

There are no new or outstanding presumptive positive cases.

There are 149 active cases of COVID-19.

The regional breakdown of the 149 active cases are as follows:

• Eastern Health-147
• Central Health-0
• Labrador-Grenfell Health-2
• Western Health-0

There have been 56 new recoveries in the Eastern Health region. There has been one new recovery in the Western Health region. This means 838 people have recovered.

There are nine people in hospital.

To date, 113,503 people have been tested.

TODAY, Tuesday, March 2nd, Newfoundland and Labrador has 5 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The 5 new confirmed cases are as follows:

In the Eastern Health region:

• One between 40-49 years of age;
• One between 50-59 years of age; and;
• Two 70 years of age and above

Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway. Anyone considered a close contact has been advised to quarantine.

The case in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region is a health care worker at the Charles S. Curtis Memorial Hospital in St. Anthony. All close contacts have been identified and are in quarantine. All close contacts will be tested for COVID-19. No patients have been identified as close contacts at this time.

There are four females and one male.

There are no new or outstanding presumptive positive cases.

There are nine people in hospital. Of these patients, five are in intensive care.

To date, 113,258 people have been tested.

In accordance with the Directive Respecting Nunatsiavut Government Appointments and Nominations to Boards and Other Bodies.

That requires all appointments to Boards and Committees (as per the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement) be made by the Nunatsiavut Executive Council.

This is based on recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Appointments.

The Nunatsiavut Government is currently seeking Beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement who may be interested in serving on the Rigolet/Upper Lake Melville Membership Committee.

In order to serve on a certain membership committee you must be enumerated on the Regional Membership list.

In other words, in order to be on the Rigolet/ULM Membership Committee you must be on the Rigolet/ULM membership list.

Interested individuals are asked to submit a letter and resume to Isabella Pain, Secretary of the Nunatsiavut Government Executive Council, no later than March 15, 2021 by email at isabella.pain@nunatsiavut.com or by mail at;

Isabella Pain
Nunatsiavut Government
P.O. Box 70
Nain, NL
A0P 1L0

Public Health officials believe any cases of COVID-19 related to community spread in the province are likely as a result of the B117 variant.

568 cases have been linked to the latest outbreak in the metro region and of those swabs taken, 88 have tested positive for the UK variant.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says not all swabs have been sent off for whole-genome sequencing but those that have, all turned out to be the variant.

Whole-genome sequencing is the analysis of the entire genomic DNA sequence of a cell at a single time, providing the most comprehensive characterization of the genome.

Genome is the entire genetic material of an organism.

It was hoped that the province would have the capacity to do whole-genome sequencing locally by the end of last month, but that’s been put off until possibly the middle of March according to Health Minister John Haggie.

He says two new PCR machines are now being fitted, validated and calibrated this week. The staff who would normally have been involved in the whole-genome sequencing activity have been diverted to that activity for the time being.

Story courtesy of VOCM.

A healthcare worker at the Charles S. Curtis Memorial Hospital in St. Anthony tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

All contacts who have been identified are quarantining and undergoing testing. So far, no close contacts among patients served by Labrador-Grenfell Health have been identified.

Out of an abundance of caution, Labrador-Grenfell Health is opening up a drive-through testing site for St. Anthony and the surrounding area today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Appointments will not be required.

Labrador-Grenfell Health says they are monitoring staff resources and working with those staff to ensure the delivery of safe patient care. However, the delivery of those services may change as a result of the situation.

Outpatient Laboratory collection will be suspended today and reevaluated daily.

The clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting today at Apt 209, 178-200 West Street—which is at the back of the old hospital.

The next Nunatsiavut Government Assembly sitting will be held on March 8th and Tuesday, March 9th.

Marlene Winters Wheeler is the Speaker of the Assembly.

She says that this will be an historic event and different for the members as this assembly sitting will be done virtually.

She adds that this sitting will mainly focus on the budget since its March.

Winters Wheelers also says that Susan Onalik will be sworn in as Ordinary Member for the Canadian Constituency.

We will be speaking with Speaker Winters Wheeler later in the AtjiKangitut Program to find out more.

Gary Mitchell, originally from Makkovik who is now living in Fogo Island has released a new CD.

The CD titled Makkovik Moonlight was just released three weeks ago.

Mitchell says that his daughter Jennifer is also featured in the CD playing the accordion.

He adds that some of the songs include, “The Strawberry Song” written by a Newfoundland fisherman, fishing at Strawberry Harbour near Makkovik.

We will be speaking with Mitchell later in our Labrador Memories program to find out more what is in his CD and where this CD can be purchased.

TODAY, Monday, March 1st, Newfoundland and Labrador has 2 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The 2 new confirmed cases are as follows:

In the Eastern Health region:

· 2 under 20 years of age;

Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway. Anyone considered a close contact has been advised to quarantine.

There are no new or outstanding presumptive positive cases.

There are 236 active cases of COVID-19.

There have been 27 new recoveries in the Eastern Health region. This means 743 people have recovered.

There are 11 people in hospital.

To date, 112,932 people have been tested.

All students in Grades K-12 will continue with the virtual/online learning for Monday and Tuesday, March 1st, and 2nd.

Kent Chaulk is the Principal of the Jens Haven Memorial School.

He says all students from grades K-12 will return to school on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 and will be Day 4 on the school calendar.

All students in grades 4-12 are to always wear a mask during the school day, including when seated in classrooms. This is mandatory.

Students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are expected to always wear a mask but are not required to wear a mask during the school day.

Chaulk says all school staff will be required to always wear a mask and face shield within instruction spaces and at any other time a two-meter physical distance cannot be maintained between students and other staff.

There was a memo shared on the Nain’s Jens Haven Bulletin Board on Facebook.

He says if you would like more information on this, please call 922-2813.

In consultation with Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, Chief Medical Officer of Health, and Public Health official’s province-wide, the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) is preparing to resume in-class instruction for schools in the Central, Western and Labrador regions, in accordance with certain parameters and protocols.

Central, Western and Labrador teaching staff will begin in-class instructions for grades K-12 beginning on Wednesday, March 3, 2021.

All areas outside the Avalon region are moved to Alert level 4. This will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Alert level 4 went into effect on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 12:01am.

The areas outside the Avalon region include:

• Labrador Grenfell Health
• Central Health
• Western Health; and,
• Zone 4 of Eastern Health, which encompasses the Burin and Bonavista Peninsulas, as well as the Clarenville area, including the Isthmus.

Your responsibility:

• Follow Public Health Guidance for All Alert Levels.
• Stay at home as much as possible, except to get essentials like groceries and medications.
• Work from home, where possible.
• You must stay within your household bubble whenever you are not at work or school. You can expand this to connect with immediate family when necessary, bring in caregivers, or support isolated people.
• If you have COVID-19 symptoms, use the online COVID-19 Assessment and Referral tool or call 811 if you do not have internet access.

Public Spaces and Gatherings:

• Gatherings at funerals, burials, weddings, and religious and cultural ceremonies are expanded to 10 people as long as physical distancing can be maintained.
• Public visitations and wakes remain prohibited.
• Informal gatherings are limited to those in your bubble.

For the most up-to-date information related to COVID-19, please visit www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19.