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The Petersburg Medical Center reported a declining number of cases this week with with only 27 active cases of COVID-19 and 43 tests pending results. According to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard, PMC has recorded a 9.4% positivity rate over the last seven days, and, as of Wednesday evening, there are no longer any healthcare workers currently infected. Although the PMC staffing level are still classified as inadequate and the hospital's medevac capability remains limited. "While this is very...
The Petersburg School District updated its testing protocols Friday, Nov. 26 to allow students identified as close contacts at the school to continue attending in-person classes, according to an announcement from Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Changes were made to the COVID-19 guidelines after a firmware update from the CUE molecular test manufacturer caused performance irregularities. According to the announcement, the district will be suspend the use of CUE tests and introduce new...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 10 additional cases of COVID-19 Tuesday for a total of 68 active cases. According to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard, there have been seven healthcare worker infections and PMC inpatient utilization is at 50%. The PMC staffing level is currently labeled as inadequate and the hospital's medevac capability is limited. The Petersburg School District, which is not currently in session because of Thanksgiving, reported 21 cases among staff and students in the...
The Petersburg School District updated its testing protocols Friday, Nov. 26 to allow students identified as close contacts at the school to continue attending in person classes according to an announcement from Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Changes were made to the COVID-19 guidelines after a firmware update from the CUE molecular test manufacturer caused performance irregularities. According to the announcement, the district will be suspending CUE tests and introducing new quarantine...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 21 additional cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 84 active cases. 19 cases were cleared by Public Health and 65 new cases have been reported in the past week. Currently Petersburg Borough has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 in the United States of America, with an averaged daily rate of 262 new infections per 100,000. This is according to the New York Times hot spots map, which displays a county-by-county average of new reported cases over...
The Borough Assembly approved an emergency ordinance Friday which requires that masks must be worn inside all public indoor spaces. Petersburg saw a dramatic increase in cases in the week leading up to the meeting. The Petersburg Medical Center reported 15 new cases November 1, one of the highest recorded in a single day, and Friday saw the total number of active cases stand at 63. Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor called for the special assembly meeting to consider the emergency ordinance and...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total active cases to 79, the most Petersburg has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. 64 new positives were reported in the past week. Community spread is escalating rapidly according to PMC which is asking people to follow mitigation recommendations. PMC remains in red status and though they will attempt to keep all appointments, they warned that they may experience limitations or rescheduling...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 48 active cases. Community spread is rapidly occurring, causing closures and staff shortages, and PMC is asking people to follow mitigation recommendations. 37 of the 48 cases were identified within the past seven days according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. 93 COVID-19 tests have been sent to a reference laboratory and results are expected in the next 3-5 business days. PMC has moved into red...
The Borough Assembly approved ordinances #2021-15 and #2021-17 during Monday's meeting in each of their third and final readings. Ordinance #2021-15 would move a chapter of the old city code which centers on disease control into the borough code. The ordinance limits the powers of the health officer, such as the power to compel vaccination, and makes it so the officer must act under and report to the assembly and the borough manager. It was reviewed by the Petersburg Medical Center, the police...
The Vakker Sted affordable housing complex, soon to be home to 15 low income housing units, on Excel Street across from the Petersburg Medical Center will have to wait a while longer before it can welcome residents. The complex, which was expected to have tenants moved in by January 1, 2022, will likely not open until March according to Glenn Gellert of Swell, LLC. Though the project was pushed back, Gellert said it is progressing fine. "It's not the fastest project that we've ever done, but...
The Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board met Thursday to discuss the latest COVID-19 outbreak attributed to the delta variant and its effects on the community. PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter presented a graph highlighting the two highest spikes in COVID-19 cases in Petersburg since September of 2020. The first spike occurred near the end of February and beginning of March 2020, shortly after Alaska's emergency declaration expired, and peaked at just under 70 cases. The second spike occurred near...
The Petersburg Medical Center is continuing to seek grant funding with its plan for a phased approach to build a new medical facility in Petersburg according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. PMC sent a letter to Congressman Don Young in February detailing the master planning of the facility with the hope of obtaining $14 million for the next steps of the projects. That value was based off an estimate drawn up by their grant writer and other consultants. The same letter was sent to Senator Lisa...
The Petersburg Medical Center is recovering since the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Petersburg according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. The number of cases across the State of Alaska began to climb in July of 2021 and hundreds of new cases are still being reported each day. The case count is causing high alert levels in many boroughs and census areas statewide according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services' COVID-19 Dashboard and the state activated its crisis standard of...
The active COVID-19 case count in Petersburg rose to 11 Wednesday according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. The count is up from the five reported on October 20 with six new positives in the last seven days. According to the dashboard, the risk level to both the Petersburg School District and the Petersburg Medical Center is moderate. The school district has continue to enforce universal masking and contact tracing is underway. 67.38% of Petersburg Borough residents are fully vaccinated...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 15 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, one of the highest recorded in a single day, bringing the total active case count to 30. Community spread is occurring and PMC is asking people to follow mitigation recommendations. 28 of the 30 cases were identified within the past seven days according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. 67.6% of Petersburg Borough residents are fully vaccinated according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Vaccine... Full story
There are now 5 active cases of COVID-19 in Petersburg as of Wednesday according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. The count is down 14 cases since the Petersburg Medical Center last put out a press release on October 11. The dashboard labels both PMC and the Petersburg School District risk levels as moderate. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 830 new cases of COVID-19 in the state Tuesday. There were also 19 new resident hospitalizations and eight Alaska resident...
The Borough Assembly walked through each of the six maps being considered by the Alaska Redistricting Board during Tuesday's meeting and discussed each map's affects on Petersburg. The districts are redrawn every decade based off data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each of the 40 districts must be socioeconomically integrated, reasonably compact, contiguous, and have an approximately equal number of people. This year that number is 18,335 per district. Members from the Alaska...
The Petersburg School Board discussed COVID-19's continued impact on the school during Tuesday's meeting. The majority of students have returned to in-person learning according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Classes were moved online on September 28 after several cases were reported among students and staff at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School. The schools reopened on October 5, but some students remain in quarantine because of close contacts. "It's been a relatively normal...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 16 active cases of COVID-19 Wednesday after several cases were cleared by Public Health. Seven new cases were recorded Monday, two of which were diagnosed in Petersburg while five cases were identified among Petersburg residents visiting another Alaskan community. PMC says there is concern of significant community spread in Petersburg, especially from gatherings where people are not masking or social distancing. Both the PMC and school risk levels are...
Theodore Merwin Smith, 84, died on October 3, 2021 at the Petersburg Medical Center in Petersburg, Alaska. He was born in Seattle, Washington to Ben and Margit Smith on April 5, 1937. He graduated from Petersburg High School in 1955 then went on to two years of college. He decided to join the Navy in 1957 where he served aboard the USS Dynamic and later the USS Lawrence. He was married to Lynn on Aug. 1, 1959. They were blessed with the birth of their daughter Renee Sept. 5, 1960 and son Rory... Full story
Petersburg held its 2021 Municipal Election Tuesday and the unofficial results have incumbent Bob Lynn retaining his seat on the Petersburg Borough Assembly and Thomas Fine-Walsh winning his first term on the assembly, succeeding Taylor Norheim after he decided not to run for reelection. Both seats on the Borough Assembly were for three-year terms. Lynn garnered the most most votes out of all assembly candidates with 703 and Fine-Walsh recorded 589. Brandi Thynes received the third most votes wi...
October 7, 1921 Adjt. W. Kerr, Financial Representative of the Salvation Army in Alaska, has just arrived from the north where he has been conducting Campaigns for funds to carry on the great work the Army is called on to do. Everywhere the people have responded most literally, feeling that the money is a good investment and goes to the place where it does the most good. Petersburg has not been slow in the past to go over the top in any charity collection made here, and we do not think the people will hesitate this time. October 4, 1946 The...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 31 active cases of COVID-19 amid community spread, impacting all sectors of the Petersburg Borough. According to a PMC press release from October 1, none of the then observed 38 cases were travel related. Three of the cases were between 0-9 years old, 10 were between 10-19 years old, five were between 20-29 years old, 10 were between 30-39 years old, five were between 40-49 years old, 11 were between 50-59 years old, and five were 60 or older. The Alaska...
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter gave an update to the Borough Assembly during Monday's meeting on the current COVID-19 situation at the hospital. During the current outbreak beginning on September 20, the hospital had recorded 54 total positive cases with 35 cases considered active at the time of the meeting according to Hofstetter. As of Wednesday that number has dropped to 31 active cases. "Encouraging facilities to mask inside, distance, and vaccines, obviously are a way out of...
