Clients of the homeless shelter on Kingmingya Road were forced to spend the night at Ingamo Hall on Wednesday after an employee there showed up to work with swine flu.

The Inuvik Shelter was closed for precautionary reasons on Nov. 4 after an employee contracted H1N1. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

Barb Crawford, administrator of the Inuvik band, the organization responsible for running the shelter, said the move was a precautionary measure. The shelter was closed for the entire day on Nov. 4 and reopened on Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. after a team of workers had sanitized the interior of the building.

"We had one person who got sick come to work," said Crawford. "We sent her home because we have a lot of high risk individuals in here.

"We could have four people sick and then eight people sick. You can't say quarantine your home because they have no home."

The ill woman was sent home on Monday. Crawford said in the days leading up to Wednesday the band consulted hospital officials and spent Tuesday preparing for sanitizing.

Some of the bedding was sanitized at the hospital while most of the work was done on location.

Crawford said none of the 13 clients registered at the shelter at the time of the closure have contracted H1N1. All of the residents and employees have since gotten their vaccination shot.

Since the shelter didn't have any extra bedding available, the fire department supplied cots and blankets for shelter clients while they stayed at Ingamo Hall.

Kami Kandola, chief public health officer for the territory, said as of Thursday Nov. 5, 2,100 residents in Inuvik had been vaccinated for H1N1. She said that's well ahead of most large jurisdictions in NWT, including Yellowknife.

Kandola said the department of health intends to vaccinate 75 per cent of the community's population. She said although the virus is still circulating throughout the territories, new cases are decreasing. She added the risk is still present.

"The only way to protect yourself is to get the shot," she said.

Shots are still being administered at the Public Health office in the Semmler building.