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Matanuska-Susitna district, where schools have battled scattered closures due to coronavirus outbreaks, now has more COVID-19 cases on average per day than any other part of the state.
Even when Mat-Su took that position, several major high school sporting events moved there from Anchorage due to less stringent coronavirus protocols.
Mat-Su moved up to number one for average daily case rates on Tuesday after the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region occupied that unwanted position for four months as the virus tore like wildfire in central Bethel and the outlying villages, some without running water.
On Thursday, the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services reported about 35 cases per 100,000 in Mat-Su in the past 14 days and about 23 cases per 100,000 in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a resident of Mat-Su, was quarantined at the home this week after testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning. It is not yet clear where Dunleavy detected the virus.
Asked about the high rates of cases hitting Mat-Su now, state health officials said they started by increasing numbers in schools, mostly associated with unmasked sports and other activities that prompted the school district to adopt a 100% masking policy.
Today, sport is still a little involved, but more indirectly.
The new cases indicate “the same kind of spread that we usually see with social contacts, friends and family,” said Rene Dillow, public health nurse at Mat-Su. “Right now we have a lot of sporting events going on. There is a lot of socializing around these events, not necessarily theirs. You’re going out for dinner.
Mat-Su, the only large school district in the state to start the year with in-person learning, reported 108 positive tests among staff or students on Thursday in the past two weeks. For each positive case, there are usually 10 close contacts.
“It certainly generates a lot more testing and a lot more concern as close contacts and people who had shared exposures will go looking for tests,” state epidemiologist Dr Louisa Castrodale said at a briefing. press Thursday.
The number of new cases in Mat-Su has surpassed the number in Anchorage, which has roughly triple the population, in recent days. Mat-Su on Thursday recorded an average of 38.29 cases over the past 14 days, beating the Anchorage average of 37.43.
One explanation is that the virus took off in Anchorage last year, sending daily counts increasing and filling hospitals with coronavirus patients, said Dr Wade Erickson, a doctor from Wasilla who founded the Capstone Clinic and holds the position of medical director. Erickson’s comments last spring about the need for local residents to develop herd immunity through exposure drew criticism from state health officials.
Mat-Su also peaked in November, but cases fell again before climbing – but not as significantly in recent weeks, Erickson said.
“We had a fairly flat curve in the Mat-Su from the very start. I think that because of that it will go on for longer, ”he said. “Anchorage had a pretty big peak. Their collective immunity was obtained earlier. We are naturally more dispersed here. “
The borough also has one of the lowest per capita levels in the state for residents receiving at least their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to state data.
Mat-Su is the size of West Virginia, with communities stretched along the roads rather than in a concentrated urban center like Anchorage.
“There are people who live on the rail network and do not come by other means, there are people who live in dry huts and who do not go regularly”, Dr Anne Zink, chief medical officer of the ‘State and a Mat A resident of Su, said Thursday in response to a question about the low participation of the elderly in Mat-Su and the Kenai Peninsula. “Not everyone has Internet, not everyone has broadband. There are many limitations statewide. “
Mat-Su does not have a mask mandate or capacity restriction like those required by emergency orders in Anchorage. The second-class district does not have a health authority to order broad virus-related restrictions. A proposal to require masks within Palmer late last year failed amid vocal opposition from hundreds of people.
The lack of restrictions on COVID-19 in Mat-Su this month prompted two major statewide high school sporting events to relocate there from Anchorage.
The State High School Basketball Championships are scheduled for several Mat-Su schools starting in late March, and the three-day State High School Nordic Ski Championships began Thursday near Palmer. A state hockey tournament originally scheduled for Fairbanks was also held last weekend in Wasilla, a move prompted by the closure of the Fairbanks rinks in the fall.
The Alaska School Activities Association decided two weeks ago to move the Alaska ASAA / First National Bank Nordic Ski Championships. at the Government Peak Recreation Area near Hatcher Pass after an emergency order from Anchorage was adjusted to require negative COVID-19 testing for all non-municipal competitors, according to executive director Billy Strickland.
“It just didn’t give us enough time to get this setup up and running,” Strickland said Thursday.
This year’s mitigation protocols mean that all 160 skiers must wear masks until their race, the usual mass starts are staggered and the relays are non-contact, he said. The teams that are not from the region mostly stay in Anchorage.
“We believe that mitigation can keep participants safe,” Strickland said. “It’s really what they do when they’re not participating in the events that becomes the biggest problem.”
The basketball tournament was moved because Anchorage’s current mandate states that non-municipal teams cannot participate in indoor activities, he said.
The March Madness Alaska tournament typically draws 80 teams, although fewer will likely be participating this year. It will be housed at Palmer, Colony and Wasilla middle or high schools with gymnasiums large enough for fans to expand, Strickland said. Masks will be required and, again, most of the out-of-town teams are expected to stay in Anchorage.
It is not known if Mat-Su will be on high alert in a month, he said. “While the numbers in part of the state are currently at a certain level, we don’t know where they will be in six weeks. Someone who has low status could be high. Someone at the top can be average or weak. “
When asked if contact tracers were seeing new cases in recent Anchorage Displaced State contests, public health nurse Dillow said no, it was too early to tell.
She said she predicted there would be, given the number of socializations that typically occur before and after such events, with friends and family.
“This is serious,” Dillow said. “There are people who are really, really sick of it. It’s not a high percentage, but no one should take exposure lightly. “
Journalist Annie Berman contributed to this story.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that last weekend’s State Hockey Tournament, which took place in Wasilla and was originally scheduled to be held in Fairbanks, was not among the sporting events that moved to Mat-Su after initially being scheduled. in Anchorage.
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