Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few more questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I know that, recently, there was a recall on N95 masks. That led me to wonder how much PPE we do have on hand. How many days or weeks, or some other measurement, of PPE is available to us here in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister. My next question is: what resources does the department have to conduct contact tracing and what kind of training do staff need to participate in contact tracing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. We've been told that testing and contact tracing is key to discovering and isolating COVID-19 cases. That has worked fine so far, but it's easy to see that it's more difficult if community spread of the virus begins. Let me start by asking how many tests of either the rapid or standard type the NWT has today? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister's comments are only relevant if the contracting is going to the North, and the Tlicho All-Season Road tells us how that can really not work in our favour. My follow-up question is: when does the Minister expect to reach an agreement with the government for the 100-percent funding for northern infrastructure? Is this something that's going to happen in the life of this Assembly, in the life of this fiscal year? What's the timing on that? Thank you.

What confidence does the Minister have that the revenue surpluses will be adequate for funding all three projects going forward? Thank you.

The point of the question is not only to point out the error, but also to point out that, in fact, these three projects are not all signed, sealed, and delivered. There still is an opportunity to choose a priority and to allocate the money to that. Is there any work going on in that respect? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for clarification. My final question is: who has access to these supplies? Is it only the medical professionals in Yellowknife and the regions, or are there other service providers who have access to the NWT stock of PPE? Thank you.

I am not sure how much PPE we have, but it's useful to learn that there is now a trend towards making it reusable. Can the Minister tell me where in the NWT the supplies are located? Are they all in Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Hay River, or are they in other places, as well?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sorry my question wasn't clear. I was talking about contact tracing, where staff call all the people who the infected person has been in touch with to try and figure out who else needs to be tested. What is our capacity for contact tracing in the NWT?

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. It doesn't give me an idea of the size of your stockpile, but let me try to get at it another way. How quickly could the department wrap up testing and provide results if there was an outbreak within a facility like a school or a jail or a small community?