Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I was talking about rapid testing. We said we had a death in the community, and we have six family members sitting in a hotel in Inuvik. I want to know what's happening with rapid testing across the territory. On December 22nd this past year, NWT Health and Social Services said, "All NWT communities have access to rapid COVID-19 testing that can deliver preliminary results to patients in as little as 15 minutes." Can the Minister confirm these rapid tests are available and which communities they are available in? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that every community, even those without health centres, have rapid testing available to them. The important piece to know about rapid testing is that it is only used on people who have symptoms of COVID. They are not going to use it on me unless I am running a fever, I have aches and pains, flu-like symptoms, respiratory symptoms. Then they would give me a test, but they do not test healthy people unless they are essential workers in the healthcare system. The situation is that the tests are widespread, but they are only used for people who are symptomatic. Thank you.
I'm thinking, with these rapid testing, why did we get them in the first place? My six people can say, "I'm having the flu. I'm not feeling well," so I could get six tests brought over to the hotel and get them tested so they could go home and grieve properly with their family? That's not right. If we are going to provide that service of rapid testing, why can't we use them when they come off the plane? Rapid test them. We are legislators here; we could make changes. I want to know: when is the Minister going to take back control from Dr. Kandola and start doing that job?
The situation with the rapid testing is that, even though somebody doesn't have symptoms now, they can develop them at any point over the 14 days. The rapid tests are not a substitute for isolation. Until the virus creates a load in the body that can be detected, it's not possible to know whether this person is infectious or not. That's the situation with rapid testing. There really needs to be ongoing testing through the quarantine period to determine whether someone is infectious.
What the tests are for, I think, was really well illustrated in Fort Liard. What happened there, as we all know, there was an outbreak. It's my understanding that the community response team then tested everybody in the community repeatedly to find out whether they were infectious with COVID-19 in order to be effective in the outbreak management. That is what we are saving the tests for: to manage an outbreak if one were to come along.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Man, she could do the job. She could leave this COVID-19 and lead. I thank her for that. I want to ask the Minister. It states in the rules, like, family members, it doesn't state where you're from. The people in the hotel room are six people from Tuktoyaktuk, born and raised, because I was with them growing up. Now tell me: where does it state them being denied for hotel compensation. Why are we not paying their hotel compensation at the hotel during this isolation period?
I recognize this is a difficult time for the Member to have a death, not only in his community, but in his family. It is not my job to decide which hotel rooms are paid for and in what circumstances. That's the job of the Premier as the lead on the COVID Secretariat.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to ask the Premier. Madam Premier, I need help here. People from our communities are hurting. It's the last thing they need to be doing is paying a $2,000 bill for 14 days in a hotel room. They need help. I am asking for help here. We need to show a little bit more compassion and leadership in regard to this. It's not only them. There are other families who are hurting, not only the family that I am talking about. It's other families that are hurting. It should be looked at, reassessed, and say yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a fine balance. I would love to be able to accommodate every single person who wants to come to the NWT, whether they're residents or not. In fact, we started with that when we started the COVID secretariat. However, I am also conscious that it is taxpayers' money. It's a real fine balance between being empathetic and providing for every single person, no matter what reason, or being responsible to taxpayers. I heard MLAs; and I heard the general public; and I heard the business communities, and chiefs, leaders of communities, who were saying, "Don't do it anymore." The CPHO's recommendation is that no one travel. Jurisdictions throughout Canada are now saying the recommendation is, "Don't come to our jurisdictions. Don't travel."
Mr. Speaker, it's not as easy as just saying, "Cover them." We cover for almost everyone. The only people we are not covering in the NWT who are residents are people on discretionary travel, those who are going for vacations. Every other person has been covered, from my understanding. When they're not residents, whether they're born here or not, when you leave here after a certain amount of time, you lose your residency. Mr. Speaker, at this point, we are not covering that because we don't have the finances. We have to be accountable. The Member did say that we have a lot of money, but we also have to be accountable for it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
