Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the issues with consensus government is that I don't always collaborate with my colleagues. Therefore, my colleague from Kam Lake has asked a few of the same questions, and in her lengthy answers, the Minister has answered them. I am just going to ask to repeat the same concerns that I had as my colleague's. When can businesses expect to receive easy-to-understand information, such as flow charts or if-then scenarios, to allow them to plan for the remainder of 2021, information that contains dates and timelines and key milestones? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to repeat these answers for the Member for Great Slave. What I want to say is that I don't expect the kind of information that she is asking for because the situation with COVID-19, with the vaccine rate, with the rate of variants, and so on, it is so quickly changing that it would soon be obsolete to do the flow chart that she is asking for and then to be able to make sure that it was implemented in exactly that way. It is just too fluid a situation. We do, however, appreciate the need for that kind of information. We are more than happy to work with partners in business, the Chamber of Commerce, the mines, and other business entities to ensure that they have all the information that we have and that they, with that information, can make decisions about what it is they are going to do next to get their businesses ready for reopening. Thank you.
I am really glad to hear the Minister say she is going to work with business because, in business, what we do is called "wargaming." We actually come up with all of the different scenarios in which things might happen, and then we come up with responses to those. It is called a living document. I would suggest that the Minister go and look at that so that we could do some planning with actual times and dates.
Moving on, over the last year since the onset of COVID-19, how much has the GNWT increased our healthcare capacity, such as the purchase of new ventilators or increased staff, other than the COVID Secretariat, in order to work towards lessening the internal restrictions and decreasing mental health impacts? It is one thing to lock us all down, but if you have done nothing to address the situation, we are going to be in this situation in perpetuity.
I think it is really important to note, first of all, that we are not locked down. The borders are open. Hundreds of people cross the borders every single day. We have approved something like 35,000 self-isolation plans. People are not locked in or out of the NWT, but there are some guidelines in place for them coming and going. Since last year, of course, we have made significant increases in the capacity and resourcing of our healthcare system to be in a position to respond to COVID. Although we did not have a lot of hospital cases, we wanted to be ready for that. We have allocated over $30 million in the health system, and many of these investments will continue to be in place, COVID or not.
We have improved our capacity to acquire PPE into a stockpile to train staff. We have been able to improve our own testing capacity. Now, rather than sending specimens to the lab in Winnipeg, we are doing those lab tests here in the NWT. We have set up the wastewater surveillance system in quite a number of communities to give us an early warning of COVID signal. We have trained staff to do contact tracing. We have looked at the unintended social consequences of COVID, such as the closure of libraries, which has resulted in a greater need for day shelter supports. We have increased access to mental health supports. We have a managed alcohol program in Yellowknife. We have additional supports within Child and Family Services that mostly have to do with respite. We have, in fact, produced a lot of extra capacity, and it is certainly our intention to continue to offer that to the residents.
That's great. I am glad to hear that we have increased capacity. I would argue, though, around the definition of the term "lockdown," only those who can actually afford to go out, come back, pay isolation costs, et cetera. Being able to leave the territory and come back really does come from a place of privilege. Moving on, when can residents expect a reduction to the isolation time requirements as a result of the vaccination program and utilizing rapid testing?
I am happy to repeat this point. The first restrictions that will be loosened will be those within our border. Those will concern greater capacity within your home, within your community gatherings, and at business locations. Once that happens, and the other data is in place about vaccine uptake, transmissibility, children being vaccinated, and so on, then the Chief Public Health Officer will look at how to modify and when to modify self-isolation requirements.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just going come back to my earlier question: how have we increased healthcare capacity? Have we purchased any new ventilators and such so that we could actually take on more COVID cases if need be? Thank you.
It's important for the Member to understand that machines don't work without the people to operate them. In this case, you need respiratory technicians to operate ventilators. We have enough supply for the number of emergency beds that we have. We are very fortunate not to have needed that more than a couple of times during this whole outbreak. We are confident that we are securely placed to deal with a COVID outbreak in the event there is one. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
