COVID-19 doesn’t appear to have gotten to Gustavus.
City officials stepped up preventative measures after Juneau, the region’s main hub, confirmed its first case in March. The town of about 500 and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve are hunkered down.
Gustavus Mayor Calvin Casipit said, under the circumstances, spirits in town are good. He hasn’t seen hoarding issues.
“If you have to social distance, this is a good place to do it,” he said.
Casipit, who’s quarantining himself because he was traveling as public health mandates went into effect, said the town has made a lot of changes to keep municipal services running with minimal interaction. Staff haven’t been cut.
Cruise ships aside, Gustavus is the main jumping-off point for visiting Glacier Bay National Park. With travel restrictions and a suspended cruise season, visitor services this summer will be very limited.
Park Superintendent Philip Hooge said he’d usually have about 60 seasonal workers coming on. This year, he thinks it’ll be about half. If they’re coming from out of town, they’ll have to quarantine for 14 days.
“I think as a community, we’re, you know, we’re used to a little bit of separation,” Hooge said with a chuckle.
The park service still intends to issue boater and backcountry permits beginning in May. Outdoor spaces remain open. But public health mandates from the governor’s office ban nonessential travel. So the park, for now, is accessible for fun only to locals.
You can still visit vicariously. The park has a webcam with views of Bartlett Cove’s inner lagoon and the Fairweather Range.
Hooge said there is concern about living at the end of a long supply chain. He called the ferry system reductions, flight reductions and pandemic a “triple whammy.”
COVID-19 is also affecting cross-border activities in Glacier Bay National Preserve. The preserve is a chunk of the coast to the northwest of the park, where the Alsek River flows into the Gulf of Alaska. It’s closer to Yakutat than it is to Juneau.
Due to the border closure with Canada, the park service says recreational permits and commercial rafting is suspended in the preserve. Authorized commercial fishing and subsistence activities are still OK in the preserve.
