Officials in Kake announced Monday, Aug. 17 that they will continue to encourage community-wide testing in the Southeast village following the news that three more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the community. The Kupreanof Island community of around 500 people reported its first case last week and has restricted non-essential travel.
In a Facebook Live video on Monday, a Nurse Practitioner at Kake’s SEARHC clinic, Todd Galuszka, said there are currently four active cases of the coronavirus in Kake. Most of the cases are either mild or asymptomatic, and all are toward the end of their 10-day isolation period.
“All the families have been notified, and they are quarantining,” Galuszka said. “We do have several other people that tested positive after they left Kake, but they are no longer in Kake.”
The city is offering community-wide testing and urging residents to continue to go in for free COVID-19 screening on Saturdays. The self-swab tests are part of free asymptomatic testing being offered around Southeast, made possible by a grant from Indian Health Service.
On Aug. 14, the Alaska Department of Transportation announced that five passengers who boarded the state ferry Matanuska in Kake on Aug. 10 were positive for COVID-19. Kake officials said they didn’t know whether those cases were connected to any of the cases announced Monday. Kake’s first reported case was a woman in her sixties that had symptoms. She was medevaced out of the community.
Galuszka urged residents to get their information from official sources, including the mayor’s Facebook page, not rumors.
“We need to not spread the panic. We need to not shame families that have tested positive. What we need to do is give them support,” he said. “We need to come together as a community and not point fingers. What we need to do is follow the guidelines.”
He said kids in Kake were possibly exposed during a recent pediatric clinic in town, but none of them have tested positive so far. He pointed to proper sanitation and masking procedures.
After the first reported case, Kake limited travel to and from the community to those traveling for critical personal needs or for critical infrastructure, like health care workers and law enforcement. All travelers must submit paperwork to Kake’s mayor, Lloyd Davis.
In the same Facebook live video, Davis said he anticipated the travel restrictions will be in place until the end of the month.
“It just depends on how things are going here with the positives. We need to curve these positives here in the community and everybody should be pretty close to getting their first test results back,” Davis said. “I know how stressful it is waiting those two, three, four days. I’m right there too. So keep testing everyone.”
Kake officials are asking anyone who has tested positive to isolate for 10 days but aren’t asking them to re-test. They’re also asking residents who’ve tested negative to continue to test weekly. The clinic is hosting free asymptomatic testing from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday until the end of the year.
Erin McKinstry is a Report for America corps member.
