Face masks are going back on in several communities across Alaska as health officials continue urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The state reported more than 1,000 new cases of the Coronavirus Friday through Tuesday, and almost 4,000 since mid-July, as the numbers have climbed to high-alert levels not seen since last January.
Meanwhile, vaccination rates have not changed much, reaching 58% of all eligible Alaskans age 12 and older with at least one dose as of Tuesday, up from 57% a week ago.
Alaska’s senior
U.S. senator, Lisa Murkowski, and the state’s sole member of the U.S. House, Don Young, added their voices this past week to calling on Alaskans to get vaccinated.
“There’s much misinformation out there so I’ll be very clear in my position: These shots are safe, effective and they cost you nothing,” Young said in a video pinned to his Twitter feed.
As of last week’s numbers, unvaccinated people accounted for 94% of all COVID-19 cases in Alaska, 94% of all hospitalizations, and 97% of all deaths, according to the state’s weekly update.
Wrangell’s vaccination rate was 62% of eligible residents as of Tuesday.
After a month-long lull in new cases, Wrangell officials have reported seven cases since mid-July.
Statewide, 98 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to health officials, with 19 people on ventilators.
Since officials started keeping count in spring last year, more than 1,700 Alaskans have been hospitalized and 384 have died of COVID. More than 73,000 cases have been reported among residents and almost 3,300 among non-residents in the state.
As of Monday, one in 16 COVID tests were coming back positive, state health officials said.
Even fully vaccinated people should consider putting back on their face masks when indoors in public spaces, the state health department advised last week, in line with recent guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials nationwide are attributing much of the recent spike in cases to the highly infectious Delta variant, which a CDC report last week said is as contagious as chickenpox.
Sitka last month had more than 250 active cases at one point, though that number had dropped to 190 as of Sunday evening. Considering the high case count — the worst outbreak in the state, per capita — the Sitka borough assembly passed an ordinance last week, ordering face coverings in indoor public places, with a fine of $50 for violations.
Since the start of the pandemic, Sitka has reported 815 Coronavirus cases, 32 hospitalizations and two deaths.
Wrangell has reported 74 cases in that same period.
In Juneau, which reported 87 active cases Sunday evening, a face-covering requirement went back in force last week amid the high-alert case status. “Persons in Juneau must wear cloth face masks when indoors in public spaces (including private businesses) and when outdoors when social distancing separations of six feet are not possible,” according to the municipal website.
Anchorage’s new mayor, Dave Bronson, who was elected on a no-mask platform, said last week he had no plans to mandate masking or enact other restrictions.
The University of Alaska said over the weekend that it would require face masks indoors on all of its campuses in communities where risk level is classified as “high” or “substantial” as defined by federal guidelines — currently, nearly every community in the state.
The university system will not require face coverings “in a private residence or alone in a private office with the door shut,” according to a statement from the interim president, Pat Pitney.
The university is not the only state facility trying to manage under the current outbreak. A dozen positive COVID test results were reported among residents and staff at the Ketchikan Pioneer Home as of Monday, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
Residents account for 10 of the cases; staff for two of them.
As of Monday, the Pioneer Home will be closed to visitors for a minimum of two weeks, the Ketchikan Daily News reported.
Also as of Monday, there were nine active cases in the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center long-term care unit, the newspaper reported.
Ketchikan posted 18 new cases between Sunday and Monday, according to Ketchikan public health officials, raising the total of all active cases in the community to 45 as of Monday evening.
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