Nunavut hamlets ask visitors to stay home

Two Nunavut hamlets are asking visitors to stay away to help keep COVID-19 out of the remote communities with limited public health resources.

“The council is asking consultants or people coming in to do public meetings or meet with council to postpone their visits, just as a safety precaution,” said Leonie Pameolik, senior administrative officer for Coral Harbour, on Southampton Island in northern Hudson Bay where about 1,000 people live.

In Cambridge Bay, home to about 2,000 people about halfway along the Northwest Passage on Victoria Island, mayor Pamela Gross has made a similar request.

“Consider postponing travel into and out of Cambridge Bay,” she said in a statement released Thursday on Facebook.

The Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay has already told visiting researchers to stay home.

“These preventive measures are focused on protecting employees and Cambridge Bay residents by limiting the number of outside visitors to the CH ARS campus and implementing additional public health measures within the agency,” said David Scott, president of Polar Knowledge Canada, which runs the station.

Cambridge Bay is also a popular stop for cruise ships and recreational sailors, as well a gateway to the central Arctic.

On Friday, Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced all cruise ship traffic in the Arctic would be banned.

The Nunavut government also cancelled all non-essential travel on Friday.