The Reopen Wrangell Task Force hosted a roundtable discussion for local businesses last Friday afternoon, May 15, in regards to state mandates and how businesses will need to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meeting, members of the task force gave brief presentations on state health mandates and safety mitigation plans.
"I've been working with the local Emergency Operations Center for the last couple of months," said Jamie Roberts. "One of the duties I've been tasked with is staying up to date as best I can on the health mandates, and helping with interpretation, and answering questions that come in to our travel@wrangell.com when people are submitting mitigation plans."
Roberts said she was only going to cover certain state mandates that pertained to how businesses can operate in Alaska during the pandemic.
Mandate 10 covers state guidelines for interstate travel. Anybody arriving in Alaska from out of state is required to quarantine themselves for two weeks, Roberts said. Travel declarations must be submitted prior to arrival or upon arrival.
Businesses that are designated "essential service" or "critical infrastructure" must submit safety plans to the state. These plans must be sent to akcovidplans@ak-prepared.com, and Roberts also added that plans can voluntarily be submitted locally to travel@wrangell.com for assistance.
Mandate 15 covers services by healthcare providers. During the pandemic, healthcare facilities can provide low-risk, routine-type services which require minimum PPE, she said. Examples she provided include chiropractors, pharmacists, optometrists, and veterinarians. Surgeries can also be provided if delaying them is deemed to have a serious impact on the patient's life or livelihood. Patients may be required to obtain a COVID-19 test, as well, she added.
Mandate 16 is the "Reopen Alaska Responsibly Plan." Roberts said that this plan has five different phases of reopening the state economy, and is currently set to phase two. The plan aims to strike a balance between keeping people safe from the virus and keeping the state economy running. There are many different attachments to this mandate, she said, that list the conditions different types of business or activities can be conducted. Common to most of these attachments, Roberts said, is a six-foot social distancing requirement, face masks being strongly encouraged, a requirement for employers to provide hand sanitizer or hand washing stations, frequent cleaning of commonly-touched surfaces, and a requirement to put together a mitigation plan.
Mandate 17 covers independent fishing vessels. Captains of independent fishing vessels, not agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan by a company, must sign a form agreeing to comply with a protective plan outlined in the mandate. This plan covers items like travel procedures, quarantine protocols, screening of crew, and on-board protective measures.
Kate Thomas followed this presentation with a summary of what mitigation plans are, and how businesses can go about putting one together. Every business, whether or not they are "essential" need a safety mitigation plan, she said, but only Critical Infrastructure businesses are required to submit them for state review. Independent Fishing Vessels are covered by Mandate 17 and do not require an independent safety plan.
There are different requirements for what a mitigation plan needs to cover, depending on the business. Non-essential businesses need to cover social distancing requirements, hygiene in the business, staff and operations, cleaning and disinfecting protocols, and how they plan to manage a positive case of COVID-19. Essential businesses need to cover screening of personnel, self-quarantine plans, workplace protective measures, travel plans, plans for continued operations, and other items in their mitigation plan.
If an employee is suspected of having COVID-19, Thomas covered in her presentation, all dirty surfaces of the business must be cleaned with soap and water, and then disinfected with products that meet certain EPA requirements. Whoever is cleaning these surfaces should wear gloves and other protective gear appropriate for the cleaning agent being used.
Before opening the meeting to questions, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore covered some resources that businesses might find useful. The city has a COVID-19 web portal at http://www.wrangellcovid19.org, she said, where local businesses can find the latest information on the pandemic. The Alaska Travel Industry Association also has guidance on the virus at http://www.alaskatia.org/coronavirus-guidance. The United Fishermen of Alaska also has information available. Rushmore said that there are a wide variety of financial resources for businesses at the local, state and federal level.
"Please like the City and Borough of Wrangell's Facebook page," Rushmore said. "That is where we will put any updates, we'll put them on the city's page."
During the Q&A section of the meeting, Joan Sargent of Island of Faith Lutheran Church asked if there was any place to find signage to hang on their doors that businesses could use, stating people with potential symptoms of COVID-19 should stay away. Rushmore said that they would add that to the list of things for the task force to look into. Sargent also asked if they should be taking attendance at the church, to see who is showing up for services. Captain Dorianne Sprehe, with the Emergency Operations Command, said that it would be very helpful for contact tracing if the virus comes to Wrangell. It would help them be able to track down peoples' locations and who was potentially exposed.
Kem Haggard, with Harbor Light Assembly of God, wanted some clarification on some requirements. His church is not planning to open its doors to in-person services yet, he said, and part of the reason is a requirement for having separate entrances and exits to the building. The way Harbor Light is built, it would be somewhat difficult to have everybody come in one way through the building and exit through another. Kate Thomas clarified that this was not a very strict requirement for one-way traffic, but was meant to be put in place "where reasonably feasible."
Other questions covered in the roundtable included where businesses can acquire hand sanitizer, the potential expiration of interstate travel requirements, and whether or not there is uniform signage for independent fishing vessels to use on their boats.
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