Service reductions at Yellowknife Public Health extended until further notice

Service reductions at Yellowknife Public Health, triggered by a tuberculosis outbreak, will now be in place until further notice.

“During this reduction of services, appointment requests will be triaged, and booked accordingly,” Krystal Pidborochynski, communications manager for the N.W.T. Health and Social Services Authority, said Monday by email.

The reductions began June 28, but were only publicly disclosed July 3, the day acting chief public health officer Dr. André Corriveau told CBC News of the outbreak.

The outbreak is linked to two cases, which in turn are linked to a case of tuberculosis from 2023. It’s considered an outbreak because of the volume of work that has to be done to trace back contacts for the two current cases.

The health service reductions are meant to let Yellowknife Public Health make sure there are enough appointments available for people related to the outbreak.

Last week, Corriveau’s office issued an advisory asking people to call 811 (the N.W.T.’s nurse advice line) if they had been in the Stanton emergency room on June 19 between 8:58 a.m. and 3:21 p.m., because they may have been exposed to someone with active tuberculosis.

On Monday, Pidborochynski said anyone with non-urgent scheduled appointments will be notified if their appointments need to be rescheduled.