If you’re in the Northwest Territories, dialing 8-1-1 is your connection to COVID-19 information and services.

The new Service NWT COVID Support Line means residents can use one easy number to reach the established self-isolation, enforcement, and regional centre accommodations lines.

The line also has staff to provide callers with accurate information about COVID-19 and how it relates to residents of the NWT. The operators will assist the caller by:

• Answering questions about COVID-19.
• Determining if they should contact their local health centre to arrange for testing using the assessment guide.
• Accepting credible, specific complaints of individuals not following public health orders for further consideration.
• Providing them contact info to local health care providers and resources.
• Providing contact information to other services as requested to help them during this time of physical distancing and self-isolation.

Other staff will also be able to provide information on what services are still available in their communities. 

8-1-1 is not:

• A resource for clinical advice – if clinical advice is required, we encourage residents to contact their primary health care provider or local health centre
• A triage system to determine order of priority of who will be seen in a health centre or hospital
• A source of pharmaceutical information – we encourage everyone to contact their local pharmacy and/or health care professional if they have questions about their medication.

The lines will be staffed from 8am-8pm, with the exception of the Protect NWT enforcement line, which will have on-call staff available 24 hours a day. All lines will run seven-days-a-week.

Interpretation services will be available for those who need it.

This will allow all NWT residents to get all their COVID-19 questions answered at one easily-remembered number.

Original posted on https://www.gov.nt.ca/en/newsroom/service-nwt-covid-support-line-launches