COVID-19 Pandemic in the Arctic: Understanding Global Public Health Lessons

Keywords: Arctic, public health, Indigenous, COVID, pandemic, remote
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 23

Abstract

The Arctic provides unique insights into the COVID-19 pandemic that are of considerable importance to government policies around the world, yet experiences from the Arctic are missing from the global public-health debate1. Arctic remote settlements have limited access to healthcare and possess few healthcare resources with which to fight the disease.
This paper examines two major “global lessons” of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic: the ‘blessing/curse’ of remoteness and engaging Indigenous knowledge with public health policies to compact the pandemic. The ‘blessing’ of remoteness coupled with strong isolation measures allowed vulnerable communities to weather the early stages of the pandemic and be more prepared for the arrival of COVID-19. The Fall 2021 COVID-19 wave, however, exposed the ‘curse’ of remoteness (Figure 1B) with an explosive growth of the disease. This ‘blessing/curse’ of remoteness is a notable pattern that is likely replicated in other rural areas of the world and indicates that a delayed onset of the pandemic can and should be used to better prepare for the inevitable arrival of the pathogen. At the same time, places where Indigenous knowledge and traditions were combined with effective public health interventions such as rapid vaccinations, strong mandates for masking, medical isolation, tracing of cases, and curfews affecting social gatherings may have had an advantage in fighting the pandemic.