Alaska is among the second wave of coronaviruses to set new records and show no sign of slowing down.
The number of cases is increasing in Anchorage and Fairbanks but also in isolated, medically underweight rural communities, including the Yukon River Delta village in the Czech Republic, where about 18% Of the population tested positive in a few days space.
Statewide, many are positively testing that public health workers cannot continue to be exposed to contact that is central to Alaska’s strategy to contain the coronavirus.
More and more urgent health officials say the only way to curb the growing number of cases is for individual Alaskan people to take voluntary measures that they have been pushing for months: wear masks, study social distance, avoid gatherings outside the home.
But they are battling public pushbacks amid rising levels of “covid fatigue” that is only growing as the epidemic months pass.
The state’s chief medical officer, Dr. “The biggest challenge I feel these days, when I talk to public and community leaders, is lethalism,” Ann Zink said during a recent briefing. “It’s harder to deal with than getting more tested or supplied.”
Asked if it was too late to stop the spread of the virus in Alaska, two top state health officials simultaneously shouted, “No!”
“It’s not too late for us to stop this surge in cases,” said Dr. J. McLaughlin, a state epidemiologist. “We know what works with Kovid. We’ve demonstrated it in Alaska, we’ve demonstrated it in the United States, and we’ve demonstrated it in many countries around the world: mitigation works. “
Government officials, Mike Dunlavy said, would take a long time to consider state officials looking into the case – and he expects the trend to continue.
Despite the growing number, Dunlevy says, the state’s hospitals are “steadily holding” and is an indicator that the state’s response is working. Alaska’s mortality rate from KOVID-19 is also declining, while cases are on the rise, and the “majority of deaths” are among people with underlying health conditions, he said.
The governor has continued to avoid imposing statewide orders for masking or stay-at-home orders, preferring local restrictions. Mask orders in some form have been established in several cities, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Unalaska and Junau. Multiple rural villages are currently in lockdown.
Last Wednesday Dunley held the first COVID-19 news conference of the week, which was streamed by Facebook. He described the virus as “very, very contagious” and said the state was “seeing a steady increase in the number of cases.”
Asked about his message compared to his top health officials in an interview on Friday, the governor said the case is expected to grow and he did not know if there was any conflict between saying Alaskan could slow the spread of the virus. .
The governor said the nation is trying to maintain a balance as the potential vaccine approaches in the coming months.
“We expected the case to escalate due to its contagious nature and lack of vaccinations.” Dunlevy said in an interview.
The state could take more restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the disease, he said, but it would include “extraordinary measures” in the way of shutdowns imposed by sanctions and arrests.
“Certainly, we can probably stop the virus,” Dunlavy said Friday. “But the cost of doing that would, in my opinion, be astronomical.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Dunlavy said, “With the case count yesterday and today, it is clear that Alaska has entered an accelerating phase with the virus, although this is not unexpected as the changing asons went inside the Alaskan home with Tuo. Most of the people in the new cases are with people under the age of 60, and our hospitalization and mortality rates are still very low per capita … Nothing can change individual action and responsibility, including social action, by wearing a mask around. Others, and wash your hands. Together we can slow down the wider community transmission and protect the most vulnerable. “
Initially, Alaska kept the virus at bay. Then during the summer, spikes in cases in the coastal industry erupted large and flattened before going down.
Health officials say the case is now in full on non-acceleration mode as positive test counts hit new records every week, health officials say.
Asking people where the virus comes from, an infectious disease specialist had a one-word answer: “Everywhere.”
According to a state update this week, most Alaskans get COVID-19 from anyone they work, socialize or go to school. Many report that they went to social gatherings, community events, church services and other social places when they were infected but before they knew they had the virus.
Janet Johnston, an epidemiologist at the Anchorage Health Department, said that common denominators these days behave as much as they do physical space.
“In places where people are keeping their distance and wearing masks, we have less transmission,” Johnston said.
With winter approaching, more people are moving indoors where the virus spreads more easily. And after the predominance in younger people the cases are moving to the older population, a group that ran new positive tests during the summer but generally stay healthy enough to not need hospital care.
If Alaska follows national trends, shifting to old age groups is more likely to result in hospitalization and death.
Florist Natasha Price arranges flowers in her garage on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. Price said his business is thriving during the Paper Pio epidemic. (Bill Roth / ADN)
Anchorage florist Natasha Price said that despite months having passed between the global epidemics, she tries to follow public health guidelines and is wary of socialization. He decided to see a doctor for the first time in his life through telemedicine.
Price listens to younger friends go to restaurants. She has “zero interest” in doing that.
“It looks like the numbers are all-time high in Alaska right now,” he said. “And I can find out deeply about that.
Alaskans, like people in the country and the world, never tire of staying home and seeing friends and family. They have an economic impact due to lost jobs and rent bills. Many have excavated on one side or the other – mask up or hide, go out or make a hole, protect against viruses or infections and boost herd immunity.
Some people do not answer their phone when the contact tracer finally calls. Others say they don’t want to be tested, yet they are exposed because they can’t afford to lose time at work.
The medical officer of the Anchorage Health Department, Dr. Bruce Chandler recently heard about a feature member of a residential care facility who continued to work while waiting for the result of the COVID-19 exam.
“One person reported being infected this week while working with customers for several days because their boss threatened to fire them if they did not show up.”
There is also an absolute pushback against any restrictions. The former governor’s chief of staff, Tuckerman Bock, is the administrator of a private Facebook group of more than 2,000 members, who wear masks and protest against epidemic protocols.
“There is no public health crisis. All orders must be removed and the brave free and restored home land must be restored, ”Bebek posted on Friday.
Everyone seems to be fed up with the coronavirus. Even the governor.
Dunlawi, who was not caught wearing a mask at a Republican fundraising event earlier this month, said he usually wears it when he eats, drinks or speaks in public. The governor said he wears masks in state office fee buildings, in stores and when he “merges in public.”
He said it lasts longer when he is talking to the group, although it increases the risk of the virus.
“But I also think I need to have a little bit of fair-mindedness and understanding that I might have changed my life from 0 to 0%,” Dunlavy said, adding that there has been a limited number of flights to the state since February. Reduction in state meetings and state travel.
He said, “I could have gone further but the point I’m trying to make is, at a time when you wear a mask and you should do it as much as possible.” And there are times when you are not and there are times when you are not, I don’t think it should be, You know, Is considered an attempt to harm people. “
Helen Lindsay, a resident of Wasila, pulled off the surgical mask as she and her husband stepped out of their sedan at Three Bears, a grocery chain that customers don’t need to cover their faces with.
Inside, maybe half the customers and some cashiers were wearing them too.
The store where Lindsay works covers the face. She was asked to hand them over to customers who were not wearing them. People cursed at him, screamed at his face, and threw the mask back at him.
Lindsay said she doesn’t like epidemic restrictions more than the next person. She had no physical contact with her husband Mike until the week after she was hospitalized after breaking her leg during the summer and then rehabilitated. They were talking by phone, separated from the glass.
She feels that there is enough blending in her family. It’s time for others to start following the protocols.
He said, ‘I’m so sick.’
Some people don’t seem to take the virus seriously unless they experience it first hand, medical providers say. Statistics show that about 20% of Alaskan admissions to COVID-19 will die.
Dr. Nicolas Papacostas, who serves as vice president of the Alaska chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said his emergency roommates are concerned that unless Alaska takes steps to slow the spread of the virus, they will become thinner.
The underlying concern is that hospitals, despite additional plans already established, may reach full capacity and then pass. It can compromise the employee ratio and spoil the level of care.
“Really put your hand on one of these patients and feel the sinking, because you care for them in the ER that this person is heading to the ICU and statistically they are not doing well, and will open their chart in a week. Or even a month later to see if they are really dead, ”said Papacostas, who practices emergency medicine in Anchorage.
“It’s real. There’s real misery happening,” he said. “And I don’t know how to get people to understand that.”
Reporter Zaz Hollander reports from Met-Su. Morgan Krakow and B’s Burman reported from Anchorage.
