Alaska coronavirus news

Alaska telecommunications companies say they’re staying on top of the surge in internet traffic resulting from canceled work and school.

“Since February, we’ve been looking at the pandemic and considering what kind of scenarios could occur, and based on our estimates, we’ve been doing some modeling to see some different levels of traffic that our network can handle,” said Heather Handyside, vice president of corporate communications for GCI. “Right now, the network looks good.”

Handyside said that GCI’s modeling showed a surge of internet traffic around when Anchorage schools took spring break, when the virus was expected to hit. It did just that, but Handyside said that so far, the spike isn’t as severe as some feared.

“We haven’t seen anything exceed the activity during spring break, and I think we can attribute that to, you know, we do have a lot of folks working from home, but I think perhaps there are less people working at their businesses, and so it appears that things may be kind of evening out based on people’s change in location,” she said.

Alaska Communications said its network is also holding up well.

“The latest two releases of the ‘Call of Duty’ video game have put more demand on our network than recent events, and our network continues to operate flawlessly,” wrote Heather Cavanaugh, Alaska Communications’ external affairs director in an email to Alaska Public Media.

Still, Handyside of GCI acknowledged that the spike in users could cause internet speeds to slow marginally.

In the meantime, telecommunications companies Alaska Communications and GCI have both agreed not to cut customers’ service for non-payment as part of a larger national Keep Americans Connected pledge, which was started by the Federal Communications Commission. As part of that pledge, the companies are also waiving late fees and opening up hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots to the public for free.

GCI also said it is going beyond that and providing free internet service and hardware to K-12 students and teachers whose classes have been moved online due to school cancellations. The company is doing the same for households that currently don’t have internet service, provided there is availability.

ACS made the same pledge to students and teachers, including to university students, and has also promised to waive long-distance overage fees related to the virus.

And companies are working to ensure customers don’t have to worry about spreading infections in order to get service. In addition to shutting down their retail stores, GCI is offering policies such as self-installation of hardware to make sure that the virus isn’t spread through service technicians.

 

Seven people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson testing center, according to a Facebook post on Sunday night.

The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson installation commander has declared a public health emergency due to an elevated risk on the base for “sustained community transmission,” the post said.

The state reported that there were 32 positive cases of the virus as of Sunday night. Thirteen of those cases are in Anchorage.

Last week, the base reported that one of the Anchorage positives was a JBER airman. It was not clear if that case was related to the others.

https://www.facebook.com/JBERAK/posts/2776425765744342

Among the measures to tighten control of movement on the post:

• The Government Hill gate will be closed.
• The Post Road gate will be closed to private auto traffic.
• The Arctic Valley gate will be closed on weekends.

All who tested positive are in isolation and their contacts are being traced, the base said.

People on the joint base are restricted to “mission essential travel,” meaning: “work in critical jobs;” buying groceries, health care appointments; dropping off or picking up children from care and getting fresh air “while observing 6-foot social distancing between non-family members,” the post said.

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz ordered Anchorage residents to “hunker down” and limit travel to essential errands on Friday. That order went into effect on Sunday night.

JBER officials have scheduled a virtual town hall meeting about COVID-19 for 2 p.m. Monday.

 

Juneau now has its first confirmed case of the COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. State and local officials announced it Sunday evening.

According to a city news release, it’s an adult who is isolating at home. It’s unknown if it’s travel-related.

The city and the state Division of Public Health will investigate and reach out to the patient’s contacts.

The state announced ten new cases on Sunday. That figure includes new cases in Anchorage, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s first two.  

State officials now say community transmission appears to be taking place in Anchorage. At least two of the seven new cases announced in Anchorage are people who don’t appear to have had contact with previously known cases.

One of the Anchorage cases is travel-related, officials said. The others are still being investigated. 

“The Section of Epidemiology is continuing to investigate these cases in cooperation with Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the Anchorage Health Department and local public health nurses,” the release said.

All 10 new cases were in adults, and none were hospitalized, according to the release. Officials say the patients are self-isolating at home.

A few hours before the announcement, Juneau officials ordered many travelers arriving in the state capital to quarantine for 14 days.

Thirty-two cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Alaska across eight communities; Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, Seward, Sterling, Soldotna, Juneau and the Mat-Su Borough.

If you or someone you know has symptoms consistent with COVID-19 — including cough, fever and shortness of breath — call your health care provider first to determine whether you should be screened before visiting.

This is a breaking news story that will be updated. 

Beginning Monday, many travelers coming to Juneau will be mandated to self-quarantine for 14 days. 

The Juneau Assembly passed the public health mandate in a special meeting on Sunday. 

https://www.facebook.com/cbjuneau/videos/3004581879592556/

The quarantine order applies to travelers coming from outside of Alaska, as well as to people coming from communities with known COVID-19 cases within the state. 

As of Sunday, 22 people have tested positive for the virus in the communities of Anchorage, Ketchikan, Fairbanks, Soldotna and Sterling. 

The Juneau Assembly’s quarantine order does not apply to travel tied to certain critical industries. The industries the Assembly exempted were flagged by state health officials in a health alert on Friday. The Alaska-specific list was based off of recent federal guidance on “essential critical infrastructure workers.” 

The self-quarantine order does not apply to work-related travelers in these fields: 

• transportation and logistics, 
• agricultural operations including fish and fish-processing,
• energy – including oil and gas production,
• critical manufacturing,
• raw production for manufacturing, including mining and timber,
• water, wastewater and sanitation,
• government functions,
• public safety and first-responders,
• health care and public health,
• financial services,
• communications, and 
• defense.

On Friday, state health officials strongly advised all Alaskans stop non-essential travel. It also urged Alaskans who are out of state to return home. 

The Juneau self-quarantine order is in effect until April 16.

The Juneau Assembly debated the measure and variations on the exemptions for several hours on Sunday. Much of the debate focused on balancing protection of public health, minimizing economic hardship, and infringing on civil liberties. The body passed it in a 6-3 vote. 

Mayor Beth Weldon and Assembly members Wade Bryson and Loren Jones voted no. 

Jones was particularly concerned about the erosion of civil liberties. He said the federal government “doesn’t know what they’re doing,” and officials within it are seeking extraordinary powers during the crisis. 

“But I think, going down this route, we are continuing to go one step closer, one step closer to loss of civil rights,” Jones said. “That’s a fear that I have, that in order to assuage our concerns today, we’re going to put ourselves in a place where we’re not going to be able to go back.” 

Assembly members Michelle Hale and and Maria Gladziszewski were particularly grave about the health crisis to come. Hale offered an unsuccessful amendment to limit many of the industry exemptions.

Gladziszewski said she would be willing to take even stronger actions to “flatten the curve.” She said, without a vaccine, treatments or widespread testing, options are limited. 

“The only tool we have is, at this point, a blunt instrument of keeping people separate,” Gladziszewski said. “Soon, we should have more testing so we can ease up on these things. … The sooner we put it in place, … the less likelihood we have to have to keep it for longer.”

The Assembly plans to hold another special meeting at 5 p.m. Monday to consider a “hunker down” emergency order further restricting people’s movement within Juneau. It’s modeled after an emergency order Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz issued on Friday.

This story has been updated with additional details from the Assembly’s debate. 

Updated 03/22 at 2:45 p.m.

State officials announced Saturday that they have found eight new cases of COVID-19 in five communities across Alaska. 

There is two cases in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks, three in Ketchikan, one in Sterling and one in Soldotna. 

In a late evening media release, Department of Health and Social Services officials said some of the cases were travel related, but most were not travel-related. 

A DHSS spokesperson said that means those people have not traveled out of state. So, it’s going to take time to investigate where and how they could have been infected — and if they had contact with any of the other people who have tested positive for the virus in Alaska.

There are now 22 people in Alaska who have tested positive for the virus.  

Each of the adults who tested positive is currently quarantining in their own homes; none have been hospitalized. 

According to the release, State Epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin said the biggest challenge to the state’s efforts to contain the virus is people continuing to interact with others when they have symptoms. 

“I can’t underscore this point enough: if you feel even mild symptoms of a respiratory infection, you need to immediately go home and stay away from others until your symptoms are resolved,” he said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of cases that are not travel-related. Five of the people who are sick have not traveled out of state. 

This is a breaking news story that will be updated. 

Ketchikan-area officials are urging residents to “hunker down and shelter in place” after announcing three new coronavirus cases Saturday afternoon. That brings Ketchikan’s total to six cases.

It also brings the known statewide case tally to 17.

In a media release, the community’s joint emergency operations center says all three new cases are close contacts of previously identified cases.

Now the mayor of Saxman, along with Ketchikan’s city and borough mayors are “strongly urging the citizens of Ketchikan to hunker down, shelter in place, and stay home, in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.”

They’re also urging non-essential businesses to close.

The release notes that emergency services and grocery stores will remain open. Officials worry that the number of COVID-19 cases in Ketchikan is growing exponentially, according to the release.

“If the growth continues at the current rate, by the end of the week Ketchikan could have over 20 positive cases of COVID-19 in the community,” the release said. “We need to stop the spread now.”

A health mandate issued Friday by state authorities also restricts gatherings of more than 10 people in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.