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 decision-making 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 COVID-19 is being transmitted. So the criteria is much the same as he articulated. Thank you.