COVID cases rise to 181 in region

By Julia Lerner
Amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in Stebbins, Norton Sound Health Corporation has identified a second outbreak in the village of St. Michael, where there are currently nine active cases, according to NSHC medical director Dr. Mark Peterson.
“There’s two communities where we have a larger number of cases, and we would call it an outbreak when a number of households are involved,” Peterson explained to the Nugget. “Those two would be Stebbins and St. Michaels.”
Across the region, COVID-19 cases are surging to record numbers, and NSHC has identified 107 new cases in the last week. Alaska-wide, over 1,000 new cases emerged just over the weekend.
There are currently 181 active cases across the community, including one COVID patient in White Mountain, two in Unalakleet, two in Savoonga, seven in Nome, nine in St. Michael, and 132 in Stebbins. The remaining 28 are in unidentified villages.
On Wednesday, August 11, NSHC identified 11 new cases in Stebbins residents. All 11 cases were related to the ongoing outbreak and the individuals are safely isolating.
Thirteen Stebbins residents, two Nome residents and four residents of unidentified communities tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, August 12.
On Friday, NSHC identified 41 new COVID-19 cases: 38 were in Stebbins, one was in Nome and two were in unidentified communities. Nomeites who attended Kindergym at the Nome Rec Center on Wednesday, August 11, or Friday, August 13, are advised to get tested for COVID-19 as soon as they can, regardless of vaccination status, due to possible exposure.
On Saturday, 21 individuals tested positive for COVID-19, including nine in St. Michael. The remaining 12 cases were discovered in unidentified communities.
On Sunday, NSHC identified two new COVID-19 cases in Savoonga, and one new case in an unidentified village.
Norton Sound identified an additional 13 COVID-19 cases on Monday, including three in Nome, one in Unalakleet, seven in Stebbins, and two in unidentified communities.
There have been more than 200 total reported cases in Stebbins since this recent outbreak began in late July, meaning one in three people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the village, which has a population of about 615 residents. Village leadership is calling for limited travel outside of Stebbins and the community will remain in lockdown until there are no new COVID-19 cases for 14 days. Until then, the village store will be open exclusively for delivery orders and school-aged children will attend school through distance-delivery education.  “The staff are being transported into the school now with no contact with the public,” said Bering Strait School District Superintendent Dr. Bobby Bolen. “On the 25th, we’ll plan to have [distance learning] packets ready and will service the community as best we can until they’ve reached their 14 days without any new infections.”
The school district does not intend to mandate vaccines at this point, though Bolen said it could happen after the vaccines receive full FDA approval later this year.
NSHC is recommending all eligible individuals receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and has mandated vaccinations for employees as cases across the country skyrocket.
“It’s all of our responsibility as Americans to protect those around us,” NSHC’s Dr. Peterson said. “It’s a public health duty to protect those around us, and the best way to do that right now with COVID-19 is to get vaccinated. It protects us and it protects those around us, so we certainly support that.”
NSHC has also recommended universal masking, Peterson said.
“We’re recommending masking for vaccinated and unvaccinated people in our region, that would be indoors and in public buildings,” he said. “We also recommend hand washing and social distancing, on top of getting vaccinated. Those are the things people in our region can do to prevent getting this Delta variant.”
Almost a third of active cases in the region have been identified in children under the age of 12, the only group not yet eligible for vaccination, Peterson said, though he hopes the vaccine will be approved for the younger age group later this year.
 The main push is to educate people on the benefits of the vaccine and once the vaccine is approved for 2-11-year-olds to get them vaccinated.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended severely immunocompromised individuals receive a third “booster dose” of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“People who are moderately to severely immunocompromised make up about three percent of the adult population and are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because they are more at risk of serious, prolonged illness,” according to an August press release from the CDC. “Studies indicate some immunocompromised people don’t always build the same level of immunity after vaccination the way non-immunocompromised people do and may benefit from an additional dose to ensure adequate protection against COVID-19.”
Currently, the CDC is recommending anyone who has received an organ or stem cell transplant, has a moderate or severe immunodeficiency syndrome, advanced HIV infections or is receiving active cancer treatments for tumors or cancers of the blood receive a booster shot.
“It’s a small population in our region,” Peterson said. “We’ll be reaching out to those folks, but as of right now, the CDC is not recommending boosters for people just based on age or based on other clinical factors, though they may be expanding that in the future.”
COVID-19 cases are on the rise across Alaska. Across the state, there have been a total of 81,337 COVID-19 cases, including 2,257 in the last seven days. Since the pandemic began, there were 2,064 hospitalizations, including 132 patients currently hospitalized, and 408 deaths. Fifteen COVID patients are currently on ventilators across the state and 75 percent of adult ICU beds in Alaska are full. About 40 percent of cases in Alaska are in individuals under the age of 30.
In Nome, Norton Sound and the Bering Strait region, there have been a total of 675 COVID-19 cases, 181 of which are currently active, eight hospitalizations and zero deaths.
 

 

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