For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, both Sitka and the state are in the yellow low alert level.
State health officials attribute this success to Alaska’s relatively high vaccination rate, and to the fact that residents are transitioning to more outdoor, low-risk activities.
The virus, however, still remains a serious health risk, especially for the unvaccinated.
Note: Vaccinations in Sitka are available through Harry Race Pharmacy and SEARHC. You can find links to more information about both at the KCAW Coronavirus Information Hub.
Many of the same doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who gather weekly to review the state’s health data with reporters, also work in the front line emergency rooms and hospitals that have borne the brunt of the infections during the pandemic.
Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s top doctor, was nothing short of thrilled to see the risk level finally drop in Alaska.
“As many of you saw, we dropped into the low category that less than five cases per 100,000,” said Zink. “I didn’t know I loved yellow so much until all of these went to yellow. But it was really just great to see. This is the first time since last July. We continue to have pockets of outbreaks around the Prince of Wales Island right now, and we’re supporting a lot of ongoing effort out there. But in general, particularly amongst our most populated areas along the railbelt it has been fantastic to see these cases just decline. Overall, we are seeing this consistency with the national trend of just really significant declines thanks to vaccination as well as probably a degree of thanks to outdoors. And it’s great to have a summer and to have less cases in general.”
Zink was referring to the Annette Island community of Metlakatla, which experienced 29 cases and one death in just a 15-day period from May 10 to May 25. Metlakatla is included in the Prince of Wales Island census area, which reported a total of 61 cases over the last month.
Zink was happy with the continuing effort to vaccinate all residents age 12 and over. In Sitka, the percentage of that population now vaccinated has climbed to 71-percent. Statewide, it’s 54-percent.
However, the good news locally doesn’t mean that the pandemic is over. Far from it.
“But we just have a very effective and safe tool, we know that Alaskans have a decision to make,” said Zink. “ And honestly, it’s a decision between potentially getting COVID or getting the vaccine as this virus continues to spread, and want to make sure that they are informed in their decision.”
Although around 1,000 Alaskans get vaccinated every day, there is sufficient supply to do more. Now that just about everyone who was anxious to get vaccinated has done so at a mass vaccination clinic, Zink said the effort was moving into a new phase: Ease of access.
Dr. Joe McLaughlin, Alaska’s head epidemiologist, said that there were many people who simply had not found the time.
“The plateau that we’re seeing is not due exclusively to vaccine hesitancy,” said McLaughlin. “I think there are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason, they’ve got busy lives, as Dr. Zink was saying, and they just haven’t gotten around to it yet. And so we really want to do whatever we can from our side to make sure that it’s as easy as possible for those people to get vaccines.”
Nevertheless there are those who remain hesitant and mistrustful of the vaccine, or cite data on “breakthrough cases” — infections that develop in vaccinated people — and choose not to get vaccinated. Dr. Louisa Castrodale manages the Infectious Disease Program for the Section of Epidemiology. She says breakthrough cases are just a small fraction of those who contract the virus.
“Overall, what we’re seeing is, the vast majority of cases that are being detected have not been vaccinated, the vast majority of people who are vaccinated are not getting sick,” said Castrodale. “And so I think that speaks to just the effectiveness of this vaccine, both for protecting people themselves from you know, severe sequalae, hospitalization, and death, and then preventing further spread of this virus.”
According to Joe McLaughlin, the epidemiological data for breakthrough cases in Alaska will likely be similar to national data reported by the Centers for Disease Control. He added that “98-percent of the hospital cases we’ve seen from the virus since the beginning of the year have been unvaccinated.”
