Alaska has recorded 165 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in three days, continuing a rapid increase in the case count since the state relaxed its preventive measures in May.
Saturday’s update from the Department of Health and Human Services showed 55 new cases: 48 in Alaska residents and seven in nonresidents. Four of the resident cases are of people living in Fairbanks. Two of the nonresident cases are from Fairbanks North Star Borough, but the department’s update listed the industry as “unknown.”
However, an employee at the Fort Knox gold mine tested positive for the virus, according to Anna Atchison, the mine’s external affairs manager. Atchison, in an email Saturday, said the case is the second for the mine.
“The individual is fine and at home,” he wrote. “We are continuing our investigation, but we can confirm that eight others may have come into contact with this individual and are also isolating.”
No information on the latest death was included in the state’s Saturday update. Sixteen Alaskans have died of the disease; some of those 16 died out of state.
Saturday’s announcement of 55 new cases follows Friday’s announcement of 60 cases and Thursday’s announcement of 50 cases. A projection from the health department shows that the case count continues an upward trend.
On Friday, the Department of Health and Social Services reported that 11 of the 60 cases announced that day were residents of Fairbanks North Star County.
Of the cases announced on Friday, 46 are residents and 14 are nonresidents. The 11 new cases of residents of the Fairbanks district are the highest recorded in the district during the outbreak of the virus.
The department also announced a death that day: an Anchorage man in his 80s who died on June 11. That was the fifteenth death of an Alaska related to COVID-19 disease.
According to health officials, the increase in the number of cases and the increase in the mix among the population after relaxed restrictions has made tracing contracts more difficult and has reduced the number of times that infected people are controlled during quarantine.
“At first, people who tested positive usually had a short list of close contacts,” said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, a state epidemiologist. “Now, as people mix more with each other, it’s not uncommon for someone with a positive result to have had dozens of close contacts, sometimes too many to name and call. That makes it very difficult for our contact trackers to keep up. “
Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, said the state is trying to increase the number of people tracing contracts.
“We are working extremely hard to expand our workforce, but with so many recent cases, we cannot continue daily check-in phone calls to people in quarantine,” he said. “Our contact trackers are now contacting the majority of people identified as a close contact to a confirmed case only once to inform them of their exposure, the need to remain in quarantine for 14 days and control symptoms, and what to do if symptoms arise. “
Formerly staff of the Division of Public Health, Anchorage Department of Health, Maniilaq Association, Anchorage School District, Anchorage School District, CDC Arctic Investigations Program, Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp., Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Fairbanks tracked contacts. Memorial Hospital
Friday’s announcement from the Department of Health and Social Services said contact tracking is expanding by doing the following:
• Recruitment of additional non-permanent staff in the Public Health Division
• Partnership with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development and other Alaska school districts to use school nurses.
• Deploy members of the Alaska Air National Guard with experience in health and public health.
• Work with the University of Alaska Anchorage, College of Health to create a training system for contact trackers and directly hire additional contact trackers.
Contact the editor Rod Boyce at 459-7585. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMeditor.
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