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The growing COVID-19 outbreak in Sitka continued this week, with 62 more resident cases reported on Tuesday and Wednesday as the number of cases statewide increased by a total of 472 over the same period of two days.
Also on Monday, a visitor leaving Sitka tested positive for the virus, then boarded an Alaska Airlines flight at 6 a.m. on Tuesday with three others, according to a message from the local public health nurse. All four have shown symptoms of COVID-19.
Officials in public health, state epidemiology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “all attempted to prevent travelers from boarding the plane,” according to the message posted in the Sentinel. The flight went to Juneau, where the group connected to Seattle.
Alaska Airlines was contacted by the CDC after the group was en route to Seattle, an airline spokesperson said Wednesday.
“Our management team encountered the flight on landing and informed the customer that he would not be cleared to continue to his final destination. No Alaskan employee, including those in Sitka and Juneau, was aware that a guest who tested positive for COVID-19 had boarded the flight until the CDC contacted us, ”said Alaska Airlines in a statement. “Our medical experts reiterated that the risk of transmission for anyone who was not in close contact with this passenger remains low.”
The average community case rates of just over 8,500 are among the highest in the country at the county level.
Sitka Fire Chief Craig Warren, incident commander at the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said he had sent emails “nonstop all day” from people asking him to do something . But, said Warren, he is limited in his authority.
“I ask Sitkans to do the right thing,” Warren said Wednesday afternoon. “After 18 months, they know what it is: to get vaccinated, to wear a mask, to practice social distancing and good hygiene. “
As of Wednesday, Sitka had more than 200 active cases and an average 14-day-of-15 rolling case rate, according to the municipal scorecard. The outbreak is the worst the community has suffered since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to a New York Times case tracker.
The mentality in town these days “is reminiscent of last year” when the pandemic still limited interactions, said Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Sitka lawmaker.
“I think people organically limit their social interactions and all that,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
The difference now: almost 70% of Sitkans are fully vaccinated, allowing residents to resume normal activity even though some refuse to be vaccinated and some vaccinated people are also positive.
“People’s guards are down, they’re back to normal,” he said. “I certainly was. “
The surge in cases comes as the first large cruise ship to dock in Alaskan waters since 2019 arrived in Sitka on Wednesday. The Serenade of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean, docked at the community cruise ship dock, 7 miles north of downtown Sitka.
The ship carries around 630 passengers, or about a quarter of the 2,476 passengers it can hold, according to Gene Sloan, an onboard blogger who described his initial impression of being on a ship empty enough to feel like a private yacht. Passengers must wear masks in interior spaces of the ship, and some areas such as the casino and pub are off limits to passengers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Almost everyone aboard the Serenade of the Seas, roughly 97% of passengers and crew, is vaccinated, Royal Caribbean said in a statement Tuesday.
The new Sitka cases are among 435 infections among Alaskans reported in the past two days in the state, with one new death linked to COVID-19, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services of State. 37 other cases were reported among non-residents.
The deceased was a woman in her sixties from the Prince of Wales-Hyder census area, the state’s health department said.
“We have had over 200 cases over two days,” state epidemiologist Dr Louisa Castrodale told a weekly briefing on Wednesday. “You’ve heard how things are turning red all over the state.”
Much of Alaska was on high alert as of Wednesday, marked in red on maps.
Hospitalizations continued to increase statewide. State data on Wednesday showed there were 70 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 hospitalized in the state. In the second half of June, this number fluctuated between 10 and 19.
Hospitals in Anchorage are busy, with sporadic alerts of emergency rooms in a ‘bypass’ state with no beds available – an ongoing situation that can change quickly. State officials say it’s a busy time for emergencies, with trauma-related injuries from people recreating themselves, but also people catching up on medical procedures they’ve delayed during of the last year.
“It’s not just COVID,” Heidi Hedberg, the state’s director of public health, said during Wednesday’s briefing.
A total of 375 Alaskans and seven non-residents with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic hit the state last spring.
Alaska’s per capita death rate remains among the lowest in the country, although state size, health care system, and other factors complicate national comparisons.
Health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to get vaccinated against the virus, noting that the vaccines have been shown to be very effective in preventing serious illnesses caused by the virus, including the more contagious variants.
About a third of new cases in Sitka now involve people vaccinated, according to local emergency officials. City officials are asking people to wear masks whether or not they are vaccinated; maintain distance in public places; and to stay home if you feel sick.
The recent increase in cases can probably be attributed in part to the highly contagious delta variant first identified in India in December and Alaska in May, health officials said. The new strain has been linked to higher hospitalization rates and is considered the most transmissible variant to date.
As of Wednesday, about 57% of the state’s population aged 12 and older had received at least their first dose of the vaccine, while 52% of all residents 12 and older were considered fully vaccinated. Among all the states, Alaska ranked No. 33 in the country for most residents vaccinated per capita.
Of the 435 resident cases reported Tuesday and Wednesday, there were 153 in Anchorage; 62 in Sitka; 27 in Juneau; 22 to Homer; 21 in Palmer; 19 in Cordoba; 15 in Wasilla; 14 each in Fairbanks and Soldotna; 11 to Kodiak; 10 in Seward; six each in Bethel and Kenai; five each in Chugiak, Eagle River and Ketchikan; four in pounds sterling; three in Hooper Bay and Unalaska; two at Anchor Point and Utqiagvik; and one in Douglas, Girdwood, North Pole, Sutton-Alpine and Valdez.
In communities of less than 1,000 people unidentified to protect confidentiality, there were eight in Bethel census area, six in the northern Borough of Kenai Peninsula, three in southern Kenya. Borough of Kenai Peninsula and one in each of the Boroughs of the East Aleutians, Bristol Bay, and Lake and Peninsula. Copper River Census Area and Kusilvak Census Area.
There were 37 cases of non-residents: seven in Cordoba; seven in Sitka; six in Wasilla; four in Anchorage; four in the Kenai Peninsula Borough; two at Homer’s; one in the Prince of Wales-Hyder census region; and six in unidentified areas of the state.
Of all coronavirus tests done in the state over the past week, 5.35% have come back positive.
Note: The health service now updates its coronavirus dashboard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays excluding holidays.
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