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In early 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, we knew almost nothing about COVID-19. How did it spread? Who would get sick? How could we protect ourselves and each other? We saw hospitals being built and overflowing, first in China, then Italy and New York. Morgues filled across the world as health care facilities made desperate pleas for ventilators, personal protective equipment and additional health care workers. Here in Alaska, we scrambled to make our own testing supplies and to quickly build up our health care capacity. Public health w...
Second COVID-19 vaccine booster doses are available in Petersburg and are primarily being administered at Public Health according to Petersburg Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a second booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine last month for those aged 50 or older and for immunocompromised individuals who received their first booster shot at least four months earlier. Though Public Health has taken the primary role of...
It was the same day that Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the state would help hospitals cope with record numbers of COVID-19 patients by assisting with decisions to ration care, and the same day that the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said Alaska is “at the worst place in the pandemic that we’ve had this entire time.” It was the same day that the governor announced Alaska would spend $87 million to bring in out-of-state medical workers to help relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospital staff. And it was the same day Alaska set a r...
The first 100 out-of-state health care workers have started arriving in Alaska to help at medical facilities overwhelmed with record patient counts due to surging COVID-19 infections. The state health department has contracted to bring on 470 health care workers, including about 300 nurses, to help the strained workforce. Alaska is using $87 million in federal funds to cover the costs. The first health care personnel reported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for orientation on Tuesday. The contractor said the remaining nurses,...
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases found in Alaska April 30 Between Feb. 1 and March 31, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services identified 152 positive cases of COVID-19 among people in the state who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a report from DHSS. About 74 percent of the vaccine breakthrough cases, or 112 individuals, were among people who had received the Pfizer vaccine, according to the report. Thirty-eight percent of the breakthrough cases had received the Moderna... Full story
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska public health officials hope to begin vaccinating children 12 and up against COVID-19 as early as Wednesday. Parents were permitted Monday to sign up their children for appointments after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization to drug company Pfizer to provide its COVID-19 vaccine for people 12 through 15. Prior to the emergency authorization, the vaccine was approved for people 16 and older. The state was still awaiting final recommendations from the CDC, which are e...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska public health officials hope to begin vaccinating children 12 and up against COVID-19 as early as Wednesday. Parents were permitted Monday to sign up their children for appointments after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization to drug company Pfizer to provide its COVID-19 vaccine for people 12 through 15. Prior to the emergency authorization, the vaccine was approved for people 16 and older. The state was still awaiting final recommendations from the CDC, which are e...
State health officials held a town hall meeting via Zoom on Wednesday to give an overview of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Petersburg and answer any questions. Since Feb. 18, Petersburg has reported new cases of COVID-19 nearly every single day, while maintaining an active case count. Since the outbreak peaked at 68 cases on March 3, Petersburg has seen a steady decrease in cases. As of Tuesday, Petersburg has recorded 94 cases of the virus since Feb. 18. State health officials were able to...
Approximately 250 residents were vaccinated at Petersburg Medical Center's COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Friday, which was the hospital's second vaccination clinic this month, according to PMC Phil Hofstetter at the COVID-19 community update on Friday. A combination of first doses and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, were administered. Theresa Ruzek, a public health nurse manager with the state of Alaska, said the state and...
WRANGELL - Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer, called in to a special meeting of the Wrangell Borough Assembly last Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, to give a brief update on the COVID-19 situation across the state. In her update she said that she is "cautiously optimistic" about the future, with vaccinations being rolled out and a slowdown in rising case numbers. "Across the state, as a whole, we're starting to see a tentative decline in the acceleration, which has been fantastic," she...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has begun receiving its initial doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, state officials announced Monday. Some hospitals had received vaccine Monday, and it was expected some Alaskans would be vaccinated as early as Monday, said Tessa Walker Linderman, co-lead of Alaska’s Vaccine Task Force. She said hospitals could decide whether to publicize the doses they are receiving. A vaccine shipment arrived Sunday night on a UPS plane, the state health department said in a statement. The state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne...
The Emergency Operations Center is asking anyone who visited or worked in any of the local bars on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 to call Petersburg Medical Center's COVID-19 hotline, after an individual infected with the virus was determined to have visited a local bar last weekend, according to Incident Commander Karl Hagerman at the COVID-19 community update on Oct. 16. In prerecorded calls, text messages and emails, the EOC informed the public on Oct. 15 that one of the three residents that had...
On Friday, Sept. 11, Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said his voluntary community plan for preventing the spread of COVID-19 will be released soon after weeks of drafting and editing. "Thankfully the virus situation in Petersburg has been well under control, but as we enter into flu season, we just don't know what's going to happen," said Hagerman at the COVID-19 community update last week. The document, which includes recommendations and best practices to limit the spread of the virus, was rev...
The M/V Matanuska arrived in Petersburg late Sunday night during its first voyage of the season out of Bellingham, but that same day a passenger onboard the M/V Kennicott, which left Bellingham on June 27, tested positive for COVID-19. The protocols that the Alaska Marine Highway System has in place to prevent the spread of the virus seem to have limited the infection to the one individual who only had one other close contact, according to a press release issued by the Alaska Department of...
State health officials held a virtual work session with the borough on May 27 that updated the community on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alaska. Joe McLaughlin, chief of epidemiology in the state, opened the work session with a brief presentation on the virus. He said the state isn't entirely sure what the total number of COVID-19 cases are in Alaska because not everyone has been tested for the virus. It is possible that there might be double or even triple the amount of cases than...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Initial unemployment claims in Alaska are down slightly from a historic high, but they are about 12 times what is typical for this time of year amid the economic fallout from coronavirus concerns, according to a state official and government figures Thursday. Initial claims for the most recent reporting week totaled 12,007, said Lennon Weller, actuary for the state’s unemployment insurance system. That compares with 14,590 claims the prior week, which the state labor department said far exceeded anything in Alaska’s histor...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)– Alaska government officials and fishing industry professionals are making plans to ensure the state can have a strong summer salmon season amid changes forced by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Alaska’s chief medical officer says the state has a fisheries work group looking at how small communities can handle influxes of fishermen and processing workers while adhering to health guidelines, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday. “We know the fish are coming regardless of COVID-19 or not and we can’t ask the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, seeking to assert calm concerning the new coronavirus threat, said Monday he sees the fall in oil prices as a “momentary issue’’ that with the stock market will work itself out. The virus has affected global energy prices, with North Slope oil prices around $45 a barrel at the end of last week. The state, which has struggled with a long-running deficit, relies on oil revenue and earnings from its oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, to help pay for government. Alaska Permanent Fund Co...
