Almost 12,000 COVID-19 cases were reported around the state in August, the most since last fall, with some schools starting to close to in-person learning in only the first week or two of classes.
Alaska set a record for hospitalizations on Tuesday, with 152 COVID patients under care.
Wrangell also had a record COVID month, with 48 new infections reported in the community, more than one-third of all cases since the pandemic tally started in March 2020.
The community is trying to stem the surge. "We have lots of people getting preventive testing," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said Monday. That includes residents who are not showing symptoms but are deciding to get checked anyway, and are going to the airport for the free COVID nose-swab tests offered twice a day.
The state-funded tests, administered by the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, are contracted to run through the end of September, Von Bargen said. Though the state has extended its airport testing contracts in the past.
In addition to more people getting tested, "we have lots of businesses reaching out" for the free face masks and hand sanitizer the borough is offering, Von Bargen said. Borough staff will deliver. Requests can be emailed to travel@wrangell.com.
Amid the late-summer surge in infections, more people are deciding it's time to get vaccinated. The rate of Wrangell residents eligible for a vaccine who have received at least their first dose has climbed from 60% to 65% over the past two months.
Though ahead of the statewide rate by a few percentage points, Wrangell still is sbehind the national rate of 72%.
In addition to more often rolling up their sleeves for vaccinations and tilting their head back for COVID tests, Wrangell is responding by canceling public events to reduce the risk of spreading infections.
The borough has issued a public "thank you" for organizations that have canceled or postponed events to keep the community safer, ranging from a moving sale to a chamber of commerce luncheon.
"Let's be vigilant a little bit longer," Von Bargen said.
That vigilance is particularly important now that classes have started, she said. Students - many of whom are too young to get vaccinated - will be going to school to spend time in the classroom, participating in activities and school sports, potentially exposing others to any infections they may pick up at home or in the community.
In Ketchikan, the high school closed to in-person learning on Monday, the first day of full attendance in the district, due to COVID infections. Ketchikan Charter School also sent many of its students home Monday because of active cases.
All activities were canceled until at least Wednesday, officials said, which is the earliest the schools might reopen.
In recent weeks, Ketchikan has broken records for new COVID-19 cases, active cases, hospitalizations and deaths in a surge fueled by the Delta variant.
State health officials reported 341 cases in August in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
In the first two weeks of school, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District reported more than 130 students and staff tested positive for COVID-19, while 930 others have been identified as "close contacts" of cases.
The Kenai district is one of several in the state that has not adopted a mandatory masking requirement in the schools.
"We are seeing, compared to last year, far more positive cases and people needing to quarantine," said Pegge Erkeneff, spokesperson for the Kenai Peninsula school district. "It's completely different this school year than it was last year. And that's because Delta [variant] is completely different," she was quoted by public radio station KDLL.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is another without mandatory face mask rules. The district's Butte Elementary School closed this week to in-person classes after more than 20 new cases were identified in that school over seven days. Butte students will attend classes remotely until at least next week.
Glacier View School, also in the Mat-Su, switched to online learning this week "due to multiple outbreaks and community transmission," the principal reported in a letter to parents on Monday.
The high number of cases and hospitalizations are putting a strain on Alaska's health care providers. There were no intensive-care beds available in Anchorage on Monday.
"We've hit new highs, and it looks like we're not done yet," Jared Kosin, president of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, told the Anchorage Daily News on Monday. "Make no mistake: This is a crisis."
Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau last week became the latest hospital in the state to announce it would require staff to be vaccinated against COVID. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, which operates the hospital in Wrangell, was one of the first in the state to require vaccination of staff, contractors and volunteers.
The high caseload has created a backlog at the state's contact-tracing effort, leading health officials to ask people who test positive for COVID to reach out on their own to close contacts. The faster contacts can get tested, the better chance communities will have to limit the spread of any infections.
Close contacts are encouraged to get tested, and to stay at home until they get their test results, said Erin Michael, state public health nurse for Petersburg and Wrangell.
The state defines close contact as someone who was within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes over a 24-hour period - regardless "whether or not you were wearing masks and whether or not they" were showing signs of COVID.
Anyone with questions about managing their own contact tracing can call 907-531-3329, Michael said.
The Ketchikan Daily News contributed to this story.
Reader Comments(0)