COVID-19 “Nowhere Near Over”
Teddy bear with mask. Photo by Nenad Stojkovic. Licence: CC BY 2.0
By Allison Sayer
“Hi, [City of Valdez Public Health Nurse] Terri [Lynch], this is Allison from the Copper River Record… sigh... I’m just calling for an update on the situation with coronavirus cases in Valdez because… sigh… it still isn’t over…”
Lynch (RN, BSN, Public Health Nurse III) said the official count of active cases available on the official City of Valdez Case Count Dashboard is trending down a little bit, but that does not reflect the true situation on the ground. Several people are considered “recovered,” which lowered the active case count. However, she said, “We’ve got a lot of sick people. The testing sites are full, booked up.” Lynch expects that after more people have the opportunity to get tested, including family members of people who already have COVID-19, the case count will at least be holding steady. “There’s been a lot of exposure,” she said, “It’s nowhere near over right now.” Partway into our conversation, she had to get off the phone after receiving another positive test.
As of August 30, there were 27 active COVID-19 cases in the Valdez area and 35 in the Copper Valley. According to the City of Valdez website, two residents with complications from COVID-19 were recently discharged from the hospital. One was hospitalized on August 22 and one on August 24. CRNA does not release hospitalization information due to confidentiality concerns and the small population of the region. However, CRNA Healthcare Quality and Accreditation Director Jim Godin did add that the majority of hospitalizations statewide are among unvaccinated people.
I asked Godin about trends in the Copper Valley. As of August 30, twenty-two new cases were confirmed over the last 14 days. The numbers have slightly decreased and then increased again since a peak a couple of weeks ago. According to Godin, CRNA has been able to keep up with testing. Godin also referred to Alaska Department of Health and Human Services information, which placed the entire state on “high alert” for COVID-19 transmission, adding, “Our region can be a reflection of what’s going on in the state.”
Valdez City Schools recently changed their opening plan to include protocols for varying levels of community transmission. On August 29, School Superintendent Ralph Watkins released a letter stating that schools would be operating under “Red” protocols from August 30 tentatively through September 13. The criteria for schools to be “Red” are: “Community cases rising or high, several positive cases within the school (staff or student), [and] contact tracing difficult.” Currently, “Universal masking is required,” and “School administrators may implement changes appropriate to their building sites, up to and including schedules, lunchtimes, and other strategies including school closure.”
I asked Copper River School District Superintendent Thérèse Ashton whether there were conditions under which the District would require staff or students to quarantine. Ashton said that with the availability of vaccines, protocols were different for different individuals. “We don’t know who has been vaccinated and we’re not built for that,” she said. Different regional clinics are also giving different protocols to their patients. “We’re leaving it to the families,” said Ashton, “and asking them to follow the advice of their healthcare professionals.” I asked whether there would be a threshold at which schools could close. Ashton replied that schools would close “if we don’t have staff that can be there.” The Copper River School District is not requiring masks in schools.
I asked Godin if he had a crystal ball, where he would say the trend would be in a couple of weeks. “The best way to put that is that the future of the region is dependent on what people choose to do and how they choose to act,” he replied, “The people in this community have the answer to that question. Whether they choose to protect themselves by getting vaccinated, washing their hands, wearing a mask, and how they behave with social distancing is up to them. The future of what this looks like two weeks from now is up to everyone else.”
Godin also wanted to advise the community that CRNA offers Regeneron antibody infusion treatment for people who are sick, or for people who test positive for COVID-19 and have additional risk factors. CRNA is also offering booster shots to immunocompromised individuals, available by referral from a medical provider. $25 gift cards are still available for any unvaccinated individuals who get vaccinated at CRNA. He noted that the Pfizer vaccine now has full FDA approval for individuals aged twelve and up.