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The state has activated emergency crisis protocols that allow 20 hospitals to ration care if needed as Alaska reports among the nation’s worst COVID-19 infection rates of recent weeks, straining the state’s limited health care system. The declaration last Saturday covers three facilities that had already announced emergency protocols, including the largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, and facilities across the state, including hospitals in Wrangell and Petersburg. Though Wrangell Medical Center is covered under the o...
Maybe someday COVID-19 will be like the flu, which kills an average of 36,000 Americans a year, rather than the coronavirus which has killed more than 700,000 people in the country over past 18 months. Maybe vaccines will become even more effective, health officials will approve the shots for children of all ages, researchers will develop new medicines to heal the sick and new treatments to ease the suffering. Although science can do a lot to block the virus and lessen its death sentence, no pill or shot or wishful thinking can make it go away...
Recently, in a social media post, the mayor of Wrangell called persons who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine “idiots.” I would like to appeal to the mayor's less arrogant self to remind him that unvaxxed people are unvaxxed for many different reasons, many less idiotic than he may be able to perceive from the heights of his ego. Some have legitimate medical issues such as allergies or genetic anomalies that have made them concerned for their health if they get this never-used-previously medical technology. While I understand that bei...
Tracy Churchill believes in "Keeping it Authentic." That's the tagline the graphic designer uses to celebrate the uniqueness of Wrangell, the community that inspired her Compass Line brand and led to the opening of a gift shop by the same name. "We wanted to initially do some designs to sell in the other shops, and then decided at that time we might as well try to just carry some things nobody else has in town," Churchill said. The space at 321 Front St. became available in 2017, and the...
The borough is continuing its voluntary requirement that unvaccinated individuals arriving from out of state whether by plane or boat must have proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of their departure for Wrangell or take a test on their arrival in town. The requirement does not apply to Alaska residents. The rules match the state of Alaska's travel requirements. The borough assembly approved an extension of the travel requirements at a special meeting last Friday, the day afte...
SEATTLE (AP) — Alaska Air Group has told its 22,000 employees they will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccination. There are some exceptions to the policy, which has shifted since last month, The Seattle Times reported. In an email Sept. 30 to all Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air employees, the Seattle-based company said employees will now be required to be fully vaccinated or approved for a reasonable accommodation. Officials said the new policy would be in accordance with the White House executive order that requires all federal contractors t...
JUNEAU (AP) — The state plans to emphasize telework for many of its 14,000 employees this month as the COVID-19 pandemic strains Alaska’s health care system. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in a memo to state department leaders, said the state “must take measures to protect its health care infrastructure while still providing essential government services to its residents.” He wrote that effective Sept. 27, the state will emphasize telework “to the maximum extent practical,” while still maintaining public services. The policy will remain in effect unti...
TANACROSS — One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic — the Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River in the state’s Inter...
STEVENS VILLAGE — In a normal year, the smokehouses and drying racks that Alaska Natives use to prepare salmon to tide them through the winter would be heavy with fish meat, the fruits of a summer spent fishing on the Yukon River like generations before them. This year, there are no fish. For the first time in memory, both king and chum salmon have dwindled to almost nothing and the state has banned salmon fishing on the Yukon, even the subsistence harvests that Alaska Natives rely on to fill their freezers and pantries for winter. The remote c...
The borough reported a new COVID-19 case in the community Friday afternoon, just the second case this month. The individual is a Wrangell resident with "no history of recent travel," the borough announcement said. The individual is the only active COVID-19 case in the community. Wrangell has tallied 143 cases since the pandemic count started in March 2020, with August the worst month at 48. September was much improved, with 14 reported cases, and now just two so far in October. Though the infection rate in Wrangell is much improved, statewide...
Wrangell voters in Tuesday’s election will decide on three borough assembly seats, three school board members and three port commission members. Of the nine races, five are uncontested — unless a write-in candidate declares by Friday — and the other four present voters with a choice of candidates. The polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Nolan Center. People need to bring their state-issued voter ID card, said Kim Lane, borough clerk. If voters don’t have their ID card, they will be allowed to cast their ballot if the electio...
The first 100 out-of-state health care workers have started arriving in Alaska to help at medical facilities overwhelmed with record patient counts due to surging COVID-19 infections. The state health department has contracted to bring on 470 health care workers, including about 300 nurses, to help the strained workforce. Alaska is using $87 million in federal funds to cover the costs. The first health care personnel reported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for orientation on Tuesday. The contractor said the remaining nurses,...
The free testing station for individuals without COVID-19 symptoms but who what to get tested because they had recently traveled or just for peace of mind has moved from the airport to the hospital. “It’s more efficient here, we’re able to utilize our staff and resources,” said Alicia Gillen, COVID-19 screening manager for SEARHC, which operates the Wrangell Medical Center and ran the airport testing site. It also will be warmer at the trailer in the far corner of the hospital parking lot than outside the airport terminal as winter weather...
Wrangell business owners and managers who responded this past spring to an economic outlook survey were about in the middle among Southeast communities. While about half of those in Wrangell who answered the survey said they expected business would be down the next 12 months, the responses were much more pessimistic in Skagway, Haines, Hoonah and Ketchikan, all of which are more dependent on large cruise ships. In addition, Skagway and Haines have been hit hard by the U.S.-Canada border closure and loss of highway visitor traffic. Juneau-based...
Lost fishing gear — be it nets, lines or pots — continues “ghost fishing” forever, causing a slow death to countless marine creatures and financial losses to fishermen. Now, new “smart buoys” can track and monitor all types of deployed gear and report its location directly to a cell phone or website. Blue Ocean Gear, of California, created and builds the buoys that also can track ocean temperatures, depth, movement, even how much has been caught. The small, three-pound buoys are just seven inches in diameter, don’t require any special train...
It's one thing to experience Alaska's waterways from a ferry, cruise ship or even a fishing boat, but what about a Jet Ski, sitting atop a couple hundred horsepower of a thousand-pound jet pump with handlebars? One company is doing just that, guiding tours via personal watercraft, from Seattle to Juneau with stops in Wrangell and other Southeast communities. Dangerous Waters Adventures was founded in 2018 by Steven Moll, offering thrill seekers a chance to experience the Alaska and Canada Inside...
A plan to start testing student-athletes for COVID-19 will produce faster results and make it possible to continue scheduled home and away games while keeping kids safe, school officials said. Athletes have to test twice a week, before and after games. Results from the tests that look for genetic material from the virus in a nasal swab take two to three days, known as PCR tests. The schools are going to use an antigen test, which looks for a protein from the virus and can yield results in 15 minutes. Antigen tests for COVID-19 “are generally l...
It was the same day that Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the state would help hospitals cope with record numbers of COVID-19 patients by assisting with decisions to ration care, and the same day that the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said Alaska is “at the worst place in the pandemic that we’ve had this entire time.” It was the same day that the governor announced Alaska would spend $87 million to bring in out-of-state medical workers to help relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospital staff. And it was the same day Alaska set a r...
Filling out an election ballot isn’t very hard. Ink in the ovals, being careful to stay within the lines, and then turn in the single-sided piece of stiff paper for counting. It’s not much to ask of residents once a year. Wrangell holds its municipal elections next Tuesday. And while several races are uncontested, three school board seats and a borough assembly seat will be decided by voters. This is a chance for residents to have a say in the direction of the borough and the school district, which combined spend more than $10 million a yea...
Earlier this month, the Alaska Legislature gaveled out of its third special session. During the special session, we discussed the recommendations of the Comprehensive Fiscal Plan Working Group, weighed the merits of a COVID-19 bill, and passed an $1,100 dividend. We also considered Senate Bill 3006, a health care bill aimed at providing temporary telehealth and flexible background checks for our hospitals. However, after additional amendments drew concerns from health care providers, the bill did not pass. As our communities fight against this...
From building smokehouses and gardens to assisting with utility and food bills, the Wrangell Cooperative Association has been working to help its tribal citizens make it through the financial and emotional stress of the pandemic. "We took a hard look at what the WCA citizens were facing with the pandemic," said Esther Ashton, tribal administrator. That included financial needs and helping to build food self-sufficiency, she said. The eight-member elected tribal council last year considered how...
Wrangell is seeing some positive growth. The number of farming operations is on the rise throughout the community, and it's contributing to a healthier economy. There are two farms in Wrangell that grow a variety of fruits and vegetables and sell to residents and businesses, no less than nine residents that grow for their own consumption, and even Evergreen Elementary has a small farm. According to the Alaska Farmland Trust, the number of farms in the state increased by 30% from 2012 to 2017,...
While Wrangell did not report a single COVID-19 infection between Sept. 10 and 21, the state tracking website reported almost 8,000 new cases over that period. Alaska’s numbers are so bad lately that the state’s average rate of daily new infections over the past week is more almost triple the national average — and higher than any other state — as reported on The New York Times COVID-19 tracking page. Alaska is facing “one of the sharpest surges” in the country, the state epidemiologist said Sept. 16, adding that it’s not clear when the situ...
There is no precise count but it looks like federal pandemic aid distributed or allocated over the past 18 months to Wrangell residents, businesses, the borough, school district, tribe and nonprofits totals close to $30 million. That's about equal to all the income earned by every household in town in half a year, according to U.S. Census numbers. It's almost three times the annual budget of the borough and school board combined. Most of the money came as grants or simply as federal aid to keep...
About 200 people convened in Haines last week - in-person and virtually - for the annual Southeast Conference, and much of the discussion among municipal and chambers of commerce officials focused on the region's economy, in particular the tourism outlook for next year. Cruise industry and airline officials talked optimistically of strong visitor travel next year, maybe even a record for cruise ship capacity, as the country emerges from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Right now, let's be positive ... this actually could happen," said Wendy...