KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The fifth known case of COVID-19 in Kodiak is a resident of the Kodiak community, who contracted the virus through community transmission.
When they tested positive, the individual was asymptomatic, and was tested as part of a requirement for employment.
The individual is self-isolating while Kodiak Public Health officials monitor their condition and care. Public Health officials have also initiated a contact investigation. They will reach out to any person who may have come into close contact with the individual, and notify and isolate additional persons as needed.
Contact tracing is a lengthy two-pronged process, as investigators need to get a hold of people infected by the individual and then contain the spread, and also conduct a source investigation to discover where the person contracted the virus, as far back as two weeks.
Elsa DeHart with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) explains: “We go back and that’s considered their infectious period, so those are the people we need to know so we can isolate them. So those are the ones that we need to everybody we need to know those people that are at risk. And then it is nice if people know where they were and what they were doing two weeks ahead of that. Because then we go all the way back two weeks and ask where what were you doing , where did you go, that kind of thing. It’s really hard for people to remember.”
A contact investigation for this fifth case is still ongoing. As of Wednesday, public health officials did not know how the individual contracted the virus.
DeHart also confirmed Wednesday morning that one of the active cases in Kodiak is in a remote area, but DHSS has yet to reveal that location.
This news comes in as some remote Alaska villages have reported positive cases this week, and even one—Napaskiak—announced Wednesday that the village is on lockdown after a resident tested positive.
Of the five known COVID-19 cases in Kodiak, the first three have recovered, and two are still active. No hospitalizations have been reported.
As the state reopens and relaxes travel restrictions, and as testing becomes more widespread, cases of COVID-19 have naturally increased substantially. Currently, Kodiak is testing about sixty people per day; at the beginning of the pandemic, local health officials were testing sixty people per month.
In this increase of cases state and nationwide, health officials are mostly concerned with asymptomatic carriers.
Dr. Steve Smith: “We’re really worried about the asymptomatic carriers spreading it. If somebody’s symptomatic, everybody has heightened awareness and we’re taking precautions on that patient, that once they’re symptomatic and they come to the medical field’s attention, everybody’s all over it.”
Public health officials continue to underscore the importance of maintaining small social bubbles, wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
Dr. Evan Jones with KANA: “I still hear people saying that masks really don’t block viruses, and I have to address that yet again. This is like our local Kodiak police department. They wear a bulletproof vest. And guess what it doesn’t block every bullet that could possibly come their way. Its’ uncomfortable and it’s hot. But guess what they put on every day? Because they have a higher chance of being exposed to bullets. They put on a bullet proof vest. Is it a 100% chance that they’re not going to be harmed if someone shoots at them? No, but if someone’s going to shoot at me, I’d love to have a bullet proof vest on. And masks aren’t perfect. But they are bulletproof vests for you when it comes to COVID-19, that this is a way of blocking most of the virus that going to be expelled from someone around you. So I still encourage people to wear masks when going to the store and to wash your hands. These are main modes of transportation.”
In Kodiak, the COVID-19 virus has been transmitted mostly through droplets, of which masks block 99%. However, the coronavirus death rate is still relatively high.
Dr. Jones: “Now we’re probably at a .26% death rate. It seems low, but it’s not low. If everyone on Kodiak got this disease, then that means we’d have about 30 deaths on this island. We’re still discovering so much about how this disease spreads and who it spreads from.”
This is a developing story. More details on this fifth case will be released during the ESC’s update at noon on Thursday, which you can hear live on KMXT 100.1 FM or kmxt.org.
