The investigation into the confirmed COVID-19 case at the Gahcho Kué mine found there was no transmission, and the contacts for the individual have been identified.
“There was only one high-risk contact identified,” read the statement from the Department of Health and Social Services. “Public health believes this is the likely source because this contact of the individual at Gahcho Kué Mine recently traveled outside the Northwest Territories.”
Public health tested the high-risk contact. The results were negative, which shows that the individual was not infectious.
He was late into the incubation period — the period of time from when someone contracts COVID-19 to when an individual can show symptoms — so testing negative is not uncommon, according to the statement.
Public health also proceeded to test those who had spent time with this individual during the potential infectious period. All those tests came back negative.
There is currently no indication of ongoing transmission.
Wastewater testing — which involves checking the city’s waste water for COVID-19 —in will soon be fully-implemented in Yellowknife.
Clerical error lead to false positive
After an investigation, public health determined a clerical error caused the wrong sample to be sent for re-assessment by Stanton Territorial Hospital’s lab.
That means the initial presumptive positive COVID-19 case was deemed a false positive mistakenly.
That is why the confirmed case was not identified in the first round of testing, adds the statement.
