The City and Borough of Sitka reported three new coronavirus cases on Monday (10/26/20) following reports of surging case counts across the state.
One of the men is in his thirties and took a test over a week ago on October 16. The other is in his sixties and had symptoms at the time of testing on October 21. The third patient is a non-resident female between the ages of 10 and 19. She did not have symptoms when she was tested on October 22. Information about contact tracing, whether the patients are isolating, and whether these are cases of community spread is not yet available on the city’s website.
Sitka is reporting 76 total cases of the coronavirus. Four of those are considered active.
The State of Alaska shattered previous records with 526 new cases reported on Sunday (10-27-20). A new case was also reported in Angoon over the weekend. Excluding Juneau, Southeast Alaska continues to have the lowest case rates per capita of anywhere in the state.
Sitka-based public health nurse Denise Ewing said at a recent Unified Command meeting that public health officials are predicting case counts to rise rapidly in the coming weeks.
“We have a model that we look at and that model epidemic curve predicts Alaska’s cases will continue to accelerate over the next week, with cases now expected to double around every 26 days,” she said.
Ewing said there’s a possibility a vaccine will be available for health care and essential workers, people over the age of 65, and people with underlying medical conditions as early as the end of November.
She said there are challenges, particularly for rural communities, because the vaccines need to be kept at temperatures as cold as 94 degrees below zero.
“And I can say that right now there are many vaccinations currently undergoing clinical trials. We’re closely following the progress of these trials,” she said. “And any vaccine would need to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, the agency responsible for making sure vaccines are safe and effective.”
Alaska recently submitted a draft plan for how it would distribute a coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available.
Erin McKinstry is a Report for America corps member.
