Thirteen new COVID cases found in region
By Julia Lerner
Since last week, Norton Sound Health Corporation has identified new positive COVID-19 cases across the region, including two in Nome, eight in Koyuk and three cases in unidentified locations. There are currently 18 active cases in the region.
On Tuesday, June 22, three Koyuk residents tested positive for COVID-19 in community-spread cases.
On June 23, NSHC identified a positive COVID-19 case in a resident of the region. The case was travel-related. Additionally, two individuals in Koyuk tested positive in community-spread cases.
On June 24, two more people tested positive for COVID-19. Both cases were community spread, with one person testing positive in Nome and one individual testing positive in Koyuk.
A resident of the region tested positive for COVID-19 on June 27 in a community-spread case and NSHC did not reveal where the case is located. A non-resident of the region tested positive on June 28. The source of the non-resident’s virus is still under investigation, and the patient is isolating.
On June 29, two additional cases were detected in Koyuk and are deemed community-spread. A third was found but the location was not disclosed and is also community-spread.
Typically, once an individual tests positive for COVID-19, they are considered an “active case” for ten days, though the case can be closed if the individual tests negative later. Ten of the individuals in the Koyuk outbreak have been released from isolation, meaning their cases are closed.
“The outbreak in Koyuk is highly infectious,” said NSHC Medical Director Dr. Mark Peterson. “People that are coming into contact with it are getting it. [This] outbreak is likely one of the new variants.”
NSHC is recommending a “hunker-down” period in Koyuk to prevent further spread.
The P.1 alpha variant, first discovered in Brazilian travelers in Japan, and the B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the United Kingdom, were both detected in the Bering Strait region earlier this summer. The Delta variant, originally found in India and first detected in Alaska in late June, is particularly infectious, and more harmful than previously-seen variants.
“If I was not vaccinated, I would be afraid of this variant,” Dr. Peterson said. “It is 60 percent more infectious than the alpha variant, which was 50 percent more infectious than the original wild-type strain. Experts are saying that it [the Delta variant] seems to find people at risk. It’s going to find the people that are not vaccinated and it tends to find young people, because they’re the ones that are unvaccinated right now. It’s highly infectious, causes twice the hospitalization rate, and there’s a concern that it could be causing more severe illness.”
The MRNa COVID-19 vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, are well-equipped to protect individuals from the current variants if individuals receive both doses of the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, a single-dose shot, works, “but it does appear that the MRNa vaccines work a bit better against the delta variant,” Dr. Peterson said.
Last week, NSHC administered a total of 42 new doses of vaccine, 33 shots were administered in Nome, and nine were administered in villages throughout the region. Around 71 percent of Nome’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, but Dr. Peterson worries about holdouts, especially in the younger populations.
“There’s no question in my mind that anybody who is not vaccinated is going to get COVID sometime over the next six to 12 months,” he said. “They will eventually get it, so they might as well protect themselves from chronic COVID symptoms. About 30 percent of people are going to have chronic, long-term symptoms. A good probably 30 percent of people will see severe symptoms from COVID if they get it, and one in 200 will die.”
There have been zero COVID-related deaths in the Bering Strait region since the pandemic began, but Dr. Peterson worries that the slowing vaccination rates might lead to more severe and infectious variants. One caller during the weekly COVID-19 conference call expressed concerns that it might take an outbreak in their village to “wake up” unvaccinated individuals.
Around 50 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 40 are not vaccinated, despite being eligible, Dr. Peterson said. NSHC is creating opportunities for young adults to get vaccinated by setting up vaccination spaces in areas heavily trafficked by younger populations, including Anvil City Square in Nome.
“We’re putting a mobile vaccination van together and we’re going to bring that to parts of town where young people tend to be,” Dr. Peterson explained. NSHC hopes to roll out their vaccine van by the end of this week.
NSHC is also working on incentives for vaccinated individuals, including the Nome Chamber of Commerce raffle. The raffle, open to anyone over the age of 12 who was vaccinated in the region, has weekly prizes available, as well as several grand prizes to be awarded later this summer. Last week, Nome residents Katie Kelso and Leesa Jones won the $1,000 prizes. Cash Arrington of Nome, Emily Walluk of Nome and Anita Jemewouk of Elim won the $200 prizes.
Vaccines are currently available to anyone ages 12 and up at several locations around Nome, including the NSHC pharmacy, the airport and the post office.
During the weekly COVID-19 conference call, Dr. Peterson encouraged surrounding communities to consider vaccine mandates. “If village leadership wanted to mandate vaccination for certain activities in a village, I would strongly encourage that,” he said. “Norton Sound has done that.”
Dr. Peterson expressed concern about vaccine misinformation spreading across the region during the weekly COVID-19 conference call and is working with villages to mitigate the spread of false information.
There is a common misconception that the vaccines don’t work against the variants, Peterson explained, but that’s just not true. “The vaccines work quite well against [the Delta variant],” he said.
Across Alaska, there have been a total of 71,187 cases, 1,656 hospitalizations (11 current hospitalizations) and 374 deaths since the pandemic began last year.
In Nome, the Bering Strait and the Norton Sound region, there have been 402 cases, eight hospitalizations and no deaths.
