Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Minister responsible for Health.
Mr. Speaker, a special advisory committee on COVID19 has agreed on the following criteria to determine whether jurisdictions are ready to lift restrictions, and this criteria includes COVID19 transmission is controlled, sufficient health capacity, test, trace, and isolate cases are there, expand healthcare capacities exists, supports in place for vulnerable groups, workplace preventive measures, avoid risk of importation of cases, engage and support communities to adjust to a new normal.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Health what criteria is being used by the office of the CPHO to evaluate whether this government should continue invoking the public health order and does those criteria differ from the criteria I just mentioned? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. This is obviously a topic that's very much on people's minds.
The CPHO follows evidence based decisionmaking based on science and her own medical professional training. And she does, in fact, monitor some of the same criteria that the Member mentioned, including the number of cases in the NWT, the impact on the health system of those cases, both in acute care in the hospital and through public health capacity.
She looks at where infections are occurring and in what populations, including the vulnerable populations, the severity of those infections measured through hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths.
She also looks at the number of infections and trends in other jurisdictions, especially those in neighboring jurisdictions such as Alberta, Yukon, and Nunavut. She also looks at vaccine coverage, including booster uptake. As we know, vaccines reduce the impact of the illness on the people who have them.
And finally, as the Member mentioned, the CPHO looks at how COVID19 is being transmitted. So the criteria is much the same as he articulated. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the majority of residents on both sides of the fence do not expect a complete opening tomorrow, as much as some would welcome it. What I'm hearing people say is that they're wanting to see restrictions such as mask and vaccine passports removed or turned into recommendations. They want to see opening in sports and other venues where vaccinated and unvaccinated can participate. They want to see the SIP plan go away.
So Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister what do I tell the residents of Hay River and those throughout the NWT when they ask, what is this government's exit plan from this pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. I advise the Member to tell his constituents we're working on it. We know the measures that are in place now have resulted in significant disruptions to people's lives, and we want to bring that disruption to an end. As I previously said, we'd be following an evidencedbased decisionmaking process in order to decide when and how to lift restrictions.
The CPHO has already agreed to lift leisure travel restrictions by March 1st, which is a week from tomorrow. She has said she is reviewing further orders and is prepared to make additional announcements by March 1st on areas such as selfisolation requirement after travel, gathering orders, and proof of vaccine requirements.
So what I hear from my constituents and from my constituency meeting last week and what I heard from Indigenous governments when the Premier and I met with them last week is that people favour a gradual withdrawal of restrictions. They want reassurance that we will be able to provide for their health needs in the event that the outbreaks continue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past several months, I've had the opportunity to talk to numerous constituents, including those vaccinated and unvaccinated about current COVID restrictions and posed the question to them, should the public health emergency end and restrictions lift? The overwhelming response was to end it but with the caveat that we must ensure the safety of the vulnerable.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell the people of the NWT at what point will she no longer invoke the health emergency, and is she willing to do that today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I appreciate the question. I'm not going to end the public health emergency today, but bringing it to an end is a topic of discussion which I want to engage you and your colleagues in as soon as possible. We have been working on a plan, and I think that we will be in a position to share that with you by the end of the week and get your feedback on what we're doing and when we're doing it and how you think that will sit with your constituents. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to hear that there is a plan in the works and that we'll hear something this week. I think constituents and people throughout the territory will be happy as well to actually hear something.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen COVID19 variants with the latest being less severe than others. Now I hear there's a B2 I think, coming out that may be a little more severe and can transfer 1.4 times more quicker than the B1.
So can the Minister tell the residents of the NWT what is her department's plan if another variant surfaces that causes severe health issues causing health services to be overrun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. We are going to have health capacities set up knowing that this disease is not going to go away and that outbreaks are likely to continue. So the CPHO will be actively monitoring COVID as she has throughout the last two years. She will continue to do that and give us advice on how to deal with the variants as they come along.
As things stand now, what we're looking at is making sure that we have a robust public health response to the endemic portion of the disease, meaning that we have capacity to test, trace, vaccinate, isolate, and otherwise take care of the population if they become infected with COVID, with a special focus on the vulnerable population who may not have had the opportunity to get vaccinated. So we are acutely aware that this is not over, that it will continue, public health emergency or not, and that our obligation is to keep the residents of the NWT safe. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
