By Allison Sayer with additional reporting by Amanda Swinehart

The City of Valdez is experiencing a new COVID-19 outbreak. City of Valdez Public Health Nurse Terri Lynch (RN, BSN, Public Health Nurse III) stated that as of Monday August 16, sixty-eight people had tested positive for the virus. Of those 68, thirty-one tested positive in just the week between Monday August 9 and Monday August 16.  

Fifteen people who tested positive for COVID-19 were vaccinated, but no one who was vaccinated required hospital treatment. Two Valdez residents have been medevaced to Anchorage for advanced care, and several have visited the local Valdez emergency room. 

Lynch urged residents to recognize: “The Delta variant is a whole new beast. It is much more contagious.” She added, “If you are sick, stay home and get tested.” Lynch encouraged residents to get vaccinated, saying, “The vaccine is extremely effective at preventing death and serious illness.” According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), vaccinated people are also less likely to contract the disease or to pass it on to others. 

One of Lynch’s major concerns is for Valdez’ children under 12, who are currently too young to get vaccinated. She referenced Centers for Disease Control (CDC) national data showing a sharp increase in pediatric hospital admissions due to complications from COVID-19 across the US (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#new-hospital-admissions), particularly in hotspot states such as Florida and Louisiana. “In Alaska we tend to follow national trends,” she said, “It just takes a little longer.”

“We need to form a buffer around our kids,” Lynch said. She recommends “a layered approach using all the tools in the toolbox” to protect children. “The vaccine is the strongest tool,” she said, “and then the mask.” 

In January of 2021, a multi-agency, multi-national team of academic and government researchers released a review comparing coronavirus transmission among populations with varying levels of mask use (https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118#sec-2). They found that masks reduce the level of transmission at the community level. They are most effective when the majority of the community wears them. This is because they do not do much to prevent people wearing them from becoming infected. Rather, they reduce the probability that an infected person will transmit the virus to another person by reducing the distance that moisture expelled from a person’s nose and mouth travels. The tiny virus particles hitchhike on these larger droplets.

Lynch is concerned not only for Valdez’ children, but for the local and state medical infrastructure. “It’s already getting harder to find hospital beds,” she said. “I want people who have other illnesses to be taken care of.” 

The City of Valdez is feeling the strain. On August 11, the Valdez Medical Clinic posted an ad on social media seeking an additional employee to help with testing. They stated they were unable to keep up with demand. A few local restaurants temporarily closed earlier this month following positive coronavirus tests among staff. 

On August 16, the Valdez City School Board held a special meeting to discuss a recommendation to delay the start of school one week to August 24. The board voted to approve the delay after four hours of discussion and public comment. Mask wearing, testing, and other protocols in the school opening plan will be voted on at the next board meeting on August 23. The school opening plan released earlier this month stated that schools would follow City of Valdez protocol, and therefore would not require masks in schools. The City of Valdez mask mandate expired in May of 2021 and was not renewed.