As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines last week to relax restrictions on wearing masks for fully vaccinated people, reports of 15 Alaskan deaths due to COVID-19 on Monday and Tuesday indicate that the epidemic is still Is fatal.
Last week, state health officials stated that the new federal guidance on facial concealment was a positive sign, but Alaska has not yet come out of the predicament.
State epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin said at a press conference with the Department of Health and Social Services last Thursday: “I find this new guidance encouraging.”
He said that mRNA vaccines have proven effective in real-world applications, but Alaska is still at a high risk.
The chief medical officer of Alaska, Anne Zink, said on Thursday that most of the new COVID-positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths were not vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its face covering guidelines on May 13. The center now says that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely resume normal pre-pandemic activities without wearing a mask.
This even includes people receiving full vaccination participating in more crowded indoor activities, such as eating in restaurants or bars and participating in group exercise classes.
The new CDC guidelines still recommend that people follow federal, state, local and tribal regulations on facial covering. People who are fully vaccinated should still wear masks on public transportation and when traveling to areas with low vaccination rates and high numbers of cases.
The new CDC guidelines were issued one day after the Pfizer-BioNTech injection was approved for emergency use by anyone over 12 years old.
Clinical pharmacist Dr. Coleman Cutchins (Coleman Cutchins) and Director of Public Health Heidi Hedburg (Heidi Hedburg) said at a press conference last Thursday that their children had already made an appointment to give Pfizer an injection before the weekend .
In order to increase the vaccination rate in each census tract by 25% by June 1, DHSS plans to plan some pop-up clinics in the “eligible stand-by” to cover the newly eligible 12 to 15-year-olds in summer Campaign.
In addition, starting May 15th, airports in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau will provide residents and workers in Alaska with free vaccines. Starting June 1st, anyone traveling at the airport will have Opportunity to get a free COVID-19 vaccine.
Sink said on Thursday: “We really respect people’s decision to vaccinate.” “In general, I think it’s going well-it only takes a lot of time.”
On Monday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported that a 70-year-old man in Fairbanks had recently died, and 10 deaths have been reported through a death certificate review in the past few months. The deaths were Fairbanks men in their 50s, Bethel Census Area women in their 60s, Palmer women in their 70s, Wasilla women 80 or older, Wasilla men 80 or older, and 50-somethings. Wasilla men, Wasilla women in their 30s, Anchorage men in their 60s, Anchorage women in their 50s and Kodiak men in their 70s.
DHSS reported on Tuesday the last four deaths: a Wasilla man in his 60s, a Wasilla woman in his 60s, a Southeast Fairbanks Census Area woman in his 50s, and a woman in his 70s. Anchorage man. As a result, the death toll of Alaskans reached 362.
DHSS also announced three new hospitalizations on Tuesday, bringing the total to 1,545 since the pandemic began. As of Tuesday, Alaska has a total of 25 COVID-related hospitalizations, with three patients using ventilators.
DHSS reported 56 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including 4 non-residents, for a total of 66,867 resident cases and 2,790 non-resident cases. Alaska remains on high alert, with 10.6 positive cases per 100,000 people. The new cases include four cases on the Kenai Peninsula, one each for Homer, Kenai, Seward and Soldotna. There are 18 news cases in Anchorage, 6 news cases in Ketchikan, 4 news cases in Wasilla, 3 news cases in the Great Lakes region, and 3 news cases in Fairbanks Cases, there are 3 news cases in Juneau, 3 news cases in Palmer, 2 cases in Eagle River, in Bethel, Bethel Census District, Nome, Arctic, Yaku Tate and Juna Angong.
The Kenai Peninsula borough remains among the five census areas of the medium-risk sector, which is classified as 4.8 to 10 positive COVID cases per 100,000 people. The municipality reports 7.6 cases per 100,000 cases. The southwest region is the lowest risk region of all 11 population census regions, with only 2.67 cases per 100,000 people.
According to the Kenai Peninsula borough’s school district dashboard, the southern peninsula is still at a moderate alert level. In the past 14 days, there have been 18 reported positive cases of COVID-19 among residents, of which 9 were at anchor points, 8 were in Homer, and the other was in the southern part of the Kenai Peninsula borough.
The central peninsula is also at a moderate alert level, with 32 cases per 100,000 people, while the eastern peninsula has jumped into a high alert level, with 9 cases per 100,000 people.
Among the tests conducted at the South Peninsula Hospital from May 1 to May 10, there were 751 tests, of which 656 were negative, 19 were positive and 76 were pending.
Free COVID-19 testing is available on the lower level of the South Peninsula Hospital Specialty Clinic at 4201 Bartlett Street, Homer, 7 days a week from 9 am to 6 pm. Please use Danview Avenue. If possible, please call and pre-register before you arrive.
It can also be tested at SVT Health and Wellness Clinics in Homer, Seldovia and Anchor. Call 907-226-2228.
In Ninilchik, NTC Community Clinic will provide testing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The test is only for those who are traveling, have symptoms, need to undergo a medical procedure test, or have known exposure after 7 days. Only 20 tests are provided per day. To make an appointment for the test to be performed at the NTC Community Clinic, please call 907-567-3970.
On the Central Peninsula, tests can be performed at Capstone Family Clinic, K-Beach Medical, Soldotna Specialty Pharmacy, Central Peninsula Urgent Care, Peninsula Community Health Service, Soldotna Urgent Care, Kenai Public Health Center and Odyssey Family Clinic. For information on testing standards for each location, please contact Linda Han at +86 18655755579
In Seward, tests are available at Providence Seward, Seward Community Health Center, Glacier Family Medicine and Polaris Health Clinic.
Get in touch with Michael Armstrong at linda@ahyien.com.
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Post time: May-21-2021