As Kovid-1 continues to spread at a high rate through the Yukon-Cuscoquim Delta, the region’s tribal health organization is urging all communities in the area to implement a one-month lockdown to prevent the spread and prevent a health care crisis.
A statement issued Monday by the Bethel-based Yukon-Cuscovim Health Corp cited “persistent lethal transmission” of the virus in the region, hospitalization – especially in elderly patients – and the limited capacity of ICUs in anchorage for recommended reasons. Growing anxiety.
Tiffany Zulkowski, vice president of communications with the YKHC, said the YKHC has asked to stay in as many residential homes as possible, and to keep in touch with other community members only for essential needs such as grocery purchases or medical appointments. “We also recommend that, when possible, only one member of the household performs the necessary tasks.”
YKHC said that in addition to the new region-wide recommendation, they are now preparing to implement an “emergency capacity care strategy”, a protocol recommended by the state on how to prioritize resource allocation or care “under scarce resource conditions.”
“When it comes to activating Mewadex, providing care and allocating rare patient care resources, we may be forced to make difficult choices,” said Dr. Ellen Hodge, YKHC’s Chief of Staff.
The statement said the organization was preparing for an emergency in the next one to two weeks based on existing milling and hospitalization indicators.
Starting Monday, the corporation also said it would also pause low-priority medical procedures for a month to maintain staff and resources.
Zulkowski said that while the YKHC is capable of issuing recommendations, tribes and cities will have to decide individually whether to implement them or not.
“We are unable to decide how many communities will take these protective measures,” he said. An ongoing list of COVID-19 precautionary measures listed by the tribe is available on the website of the Bethel-based Association Village F Village Council Presidents.
The association is “urging regional community leaders, including tribal committees, municipal governments, businesses, schools, to follow YKHC’s advice,” AVCP spokeswoman Maria Nikolai said in a recent statement.
Some communities are already in some form of lockdown, including Chawak village, where about 300 cases have been reported so far in the state – a third of the total population.
These recommendations come after weeks of created cases in the region and the state. As of Monday, the YK Delta had the highest average case rate in Alaska, with 150.13 cases per 100,000 inhabitants above the 14-day average – about 15 times the state’s high-alert threshold.
Only two states in North America had higher-than-expected average case rates on Monday: North Dakota and South Dakota.
This is 11 of the 12 accumulated medical vacancies in the region in the last month. And on Sunday, YKHC reported the death of the eighth Kovid-19 associated with the region: a YK Delta resident in his 80s who died on Saturday.
The YKHC has reportedly spread the community in at least nine communities in recent weeks, including Akiak, Quethlook, Scammon Bay, Bethel, Chevac, Quinhnag, Knapsick and Toxuk Bay.
State health officials have recently expressed concern that the YK Delta, a rural area in southwestern Alaska that is not connected to dozens of villages, where the population is mostly upic, and where case rates have recently come in between. The highest in the country.
D ‘s. Ann Zinc, the state’s chief medical officer, last week urged residents of the region to continue to follow public health guidelines, noting unique challenges for the region, including the lack of running water in some communities and limited health capacity.
He said the state was doing as much as possible to support the sector, but stressed that individual measures – such as avoiding gatherings, social distance and wearing masks in public – would be necessary to slow the spread.
“We’ll spend this winter, but it will take us all.”
