Bridget Dowd

Juneau officials plan to hold their weekly community update on COVID-19 at 4 p.m. over Zoom.

You can watch here, on the city’s Facebook page, or listen in by calling 1-253-215-8782 or 1-346-248-7799 with the webinar ID 985 6308 5159.

The public can ask questions in advance by emailing COVIDquestions@juneau.org.

As of Monday, city officials know of 17 people with active cases in Juneau. More than 49% of Juneau’s total population has completed the vaccine series. At Thunder Mountain High School, the cluster total is eight cases, with two recovered.

Juneau officials plan to ease community restrictions and travel mandates related to COVID-19.

Emergency rules about risk levels and community restrictions lapsed on Saturday. The Juneau Assembly adopted new ones in an emergency measure on Monday.

The city recently stopped offering mass vaccination clinics at Centennial Hall for first doses. They’re focusing efforts on helping Juneau organizations set up pop-up clinics. Vaccine appointments are also available through local health care providers and pharmacies.

 

Demand for COVID-19 vaccines is dwindling in Juneau. More than 61% of the city’s eligible population is fully vaccinated, so the city isn’t planning any more mass vaccination clinics.

Juneau residents who still want to get their first shot can now turn to small, pop-up clinics instead.

When Juneau officials started offering mass vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 shot, demand exceeded supply. They were often giving out more than 1,000 doses per event.

But there’s been a clear tapering in demand. The most recent first-dose clinic was the city’s last. They had capacity for over 1,000 doses but only gave out about 300.

Now, any Juneau organization can apply to have the shots come to them. Robert Barr, Juneau’s Emergency Operations Chief, said applicants can submit a set number of people who they know will want vaccines or set up an event on a walk-in basis. 

“There are factors that go into that,” Barr said. “What’s the potential for walk-ins at the space? Have we done something recently in that small, geographic area around the site?”

Two churches hosted pop-up clinics on Monday. Brad Perkins is the program coordinator for Resurrection Lutheran Church. He said he thought offering vaccines during their month-end food pantry was the perfect opportunity.

“The last Monday of the month is usually our busiest because people are running out of money,” Perkins said. “We’ll see at least 50-60 people today picking up food, so we had a pretty good guess that we could get a number of people to come through and do this.”

Jess Brown is the wellness coordinator for the city and hospital. She was at the pop-up clinic helping patients schedule their follow-up appointments. 

“It’s been really exciting to get some shots in arms,” Brown said. “I’ve had people come in and they are actually in tears because they are just so grateful and so ready to be past this whole last year.” 

She said public health is all about meeting people where they’re at.

“Not everyone feels comfortable in different locations and so we might have a group that just feels more secure and comfortable getting it here,” Brown said. “It feels like a more trusted process.”

Kyle Asai-Lau received his first shot at the church and said it gives him peace of mind.  

“I did grow up with asthma so I know I was a high-risk patient,” Asai-Lau said. “So getting the vaccination, just makes myself safer along with the people I live with.”

And for those still worried about getting the shot, he said “just go for it!”

Editor’s note: The headline for this story has been updated to clarify that 61% of eligible residents have been vaccinated, not 61% of the total population.

The coronavirus pandemic took a heavy toll on tourism and, consequently, on Juneau’s aviation industry.

Gary Thompson owns Admiralty Air Service, which offers charter flights throughout Southeast Alaska.

“I love flying,” Thompson said. “I always have. Gosh, I’ve been doing it up here since ‘93 and it’s a beautiful place to fly.”

He’s the only employee of the company, which has two airplanes and a small group of regular customers.

“[It’s] a small company like a lot of the companies that have been going broke around the country,” he said. “I’m just fortunate that I’m able to survive still.”

Travelers start to dwindle

Thompson usually flies around 450 to 500 hours a summer. Last year, he was down to about 400 hours. While that may not sound like much of a loss, he said after paying all his expenses, those last 100 hours make a big difference.

So when business died down last April, Thompson and 10 other Juneau airport tenants signed a letter. They asked the airport to use some of its $21.7 million in federal coronavirus relief to cover their rent payments for the year. In total, for 13 commercial aviation tenants, that’s $1.15 million.

When airport manager Patty Wahto got the request, she and other airport board members worked with the FAA to come up with a plan. Commercial aviation tenants would have to fill out an application to have their rent covered.

“Some of our operators aren’t even turning a proper rotor and this is a big deal because the rent is still due, everything is still due,” Wahto said. “So by at least pulling away from having this rent underneath them when they’re not making money or making very little, due to limited travel, that helps them immensely.”

Airport sends relief

The airport’s board approved the rent relief starting in July of 2020, which was a big help for Thompson.

“It made up for the lost business I had last year,” Thompson said. “That’s for sure.”

The airport’s board recently approved another year of relief for those tenants. Wahto said they’ll continue assessing the need each year and could potentially offer this program through 2025.

“It may very well be that it’s going to take years for a rebound and this is something we can help them with,” Wahto said.

Unfortunately, the program is only available to commercial airlines, which means concessionaires inside the airport were not offered those funds.

Some left behind

Kristi Elliott manages Hummingbird Hollow Gifts, the only gift shop in the airport.

“It was a little worrisome,” Elliott said. “Like how are we going to even pay the rent, let alone the employee payroll?”

Elliott requested the rent relief as well but was denied. The airport did offer to put off her rent until December, but she turned it down because she was able to find other government assistance.

Getting through the year still wasn’t easy. Elliott’s sales went down 75-80%. She said it was lucky the shop had recently moved into a smaller, temporary spot with reduced rent.

“It just kind of all worked out,” Elliott said. “We’ve been applying for every grant that we’re eligible for and by the grace of God, we made it through with those. So we’re just trying to hang in there and hope for better times.”

The summer ahead

Alaska Seaplanes is one of the Juneau-based airlines that received rent relief. Marketing manager Andy Kline said it’s primarily a commuter airline for Southeast, but in the summer, business is bumped up quite a bit by tourism.

“2020 was a tough year,” Kline said. “We have seen in recent months a pick-up in business, heading into the usual, very busy summer season for us. It’s not at pre-pandemic levels at this point, but it’s picking up. So we see a rebound happening.”

As for Thompson, he said he just might have to get creative.

“I’m still a little worried about the summer,” Thompson said. “You know, there’s not going to be any [big] cruise ships again, so no tourism business. I’m going to go out to some of the hotels and bed and breakfasts and try to market because I kind of think there’s going to be a lot of independent travelers this year.”

It’s too early in the season to know how the summer will shake out, but both Kline and Thompson said they’re staying hopeful.

More than 130 of the 218 inmates at Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau received COVID-19 vaccines and, so far, 70 of them completed the series. 

The Alaska Department of Corrections updates inmate numbers weekly on its website. However, tracking that data for corrections employees is not so simple. 

The department is not tracking how many staff members have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Spokesperson Sarah Gallagher said in an email that because many staff members receive vaccinations in the community, they’re not able to track the total number. 

She said staff are not required to report vaccine information to the department. Therefore, they have no plans to track that data in the future.

But, Sgt. Randy McLellan with the Alaska Correctional Officers Association — that’s the union that represents correctional officers — said the department should have a good estimate of how many staff have been vaccinated.

“Pretty much everybody that’s been vaccinated staff-wise that I know of got vaccinated at the facility,” McLellan said. “The facility very much knows how many they’ve vaccinated and I’d say that’s the case for most facilities.”

McLellan added that from what he can tell, staff vaccination numbers have remained somewhat low so far.

“Some are skeptical,” McLellan said. “Some had the virus and therefore don’t think they need the vaccine anymore and some really don’t have a fear of it or don’t have family members that are ill or compromised, so they didn’t feel a need to get it.”

Inmates are offered the vaccine but are not required to receive it. However, they are required to be fully vaccinated to have visitors. DOC reopened visitation by appointment only at some facilities this week. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify more people in custody will complete their vaccine series.

Updated post — Tuesday, April 20 | 4:45 p.m.

On Tuesday, the City and Borough of Juneau announced two additional positive COVID-19 cases associated with Thunder Mountain High School. The school will continue with distance learning through the end of the week.

Original post — Monday, April 19 | 1:50 p.m.

Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau shifted all classes to distance learning Monday and Tuesday after at least three people who either work at or attend the school tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. 

Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss said Monday that Juneau Public Health has completed contact tracing for those cases, but some test results are still pending.

“So, due to those pending test results we decided that it would be in everybody’s best interest just out of an abundance of caution to do one more day of distance delivery,” she said.

The school would not reveal whether the positive cases were in students or staff members due to health privacy laws, but the wrestling team and boys soccer team are being quarantined due to a close contact.

Weiss says members of those teams will be tested for the virus on Friday.

“You can’t always test right away because you have to have enough time for it to start showing up,” she said. “So that’s why these quarantine days are super important, so we don’t have kids mixing while we’re waiting until we can test.”

If the pending tests come back negative, the school plans to resume in person classes on Thursday. Wednesday is a virtual learning day for all students.

In an email to parents on Sunday, the district said students who are not contacted about exposure don’t need to quarantine or be tested at this time.

All individuals with active cases of COVID-19 are in isolation and the school is being disinfected.

Students started in-person attendance three days a week on Jan. 12 after winter break. They expanded that to four days a week last week.

This story has been updated with comments from the school district superintendent. Additionally, the photo caption in this story has been updated.