Sorted by date Results 151 - 172 of 172
On Monday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy released state health mandate #18, which eases previous restrictions on intrastate travel. The newest health mandate supersedes state health mandate #12, which had limited travel between Alaskan communities to critical infrastructure or critical personal needs. State health mandate #18 now opens up all purposes of travel for communities connected by the road system and the Alaska Marine Highway System. Travel between those communities does include the use of boats...
Borough officials will be having a work session with state medical professionals next Wednesday to talk about the state's current and future approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said on Wednesday that the information gained from the work session can be used by community leaders to prevent a widespread COVID-19 outbreak as Petersburg begins to reopen parts of its economy. "I think it's very important to understand where the state is going with testing, and...
The value of Alaska salmon permits is another casualty of the coronavirus with prices dropping for all fisheries across the state. There are a lot of permits for sale - and the most offers ever to lease permits, especially at Bristol Bay. The virus has changed everything, said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. “There’s so much uncertainty about if there will even be a salmon season here and there, and if so, what kind of a price can be expected and so on. I can’t think of one salmon permit that is going up in value. And if there...
Another case of COVID-19 was reported in Petersburg on Monday, bringing the local number of COVID-19 cases to three, though two of the individuals have since recovered, according to a joint-statement made by the Petersburg Medical Center and the Petersburg Borough. PMC has sent out a total of 134 test samples to state and commercial laboratories to be tested for COVID-19, according to PMC Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Lauri Miller at Wednesday's community COVID-19 update. Of those samples,...
The Petersburg Borough confirmed the second positive result for COVID-19 in the community on Saturday in a joint statement with Petersburg Medical Center. While this is the second case to officially appear in the community, it is the only active case of COVID-19 present at this time. The first individual who tested positive for the virus has since recovered. Another local resident, Delbert (Pete) Erickson, passed away from the virus in Washington last month, but the Alaska Department of Health...
Petersburg Medical Center has sent out a total of 71 samples to be tested for COVID-19 at state and commercial laboratories as of April 15, said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 community update. Sixty-three tests have returned negative, seven are still pending and one test has returned positive, but the individual has since recovered. On Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services reported 293 cases of COVID-19 in the state. Of the positive cases, 106...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —Four employees at a state-run prison in Juneau have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Monday. No staff at other Department of Corrections facilities have tested positive, and no inmates within the system have tested positive, department spokeswoman Sarah Gallagher said by email. Three recent cases in Juneau have involved staff from the Lemon Creek Correctional Center. Results from a fourth case came in as positive but given reporting protocols will show up in the state’s count Tuesday, according to the state hea...
As of April 7, the Petersburg Medical Center has sent out 62 test samples to be tested for COVID-19 at state and commercial laboratories, according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 update. Fifty-one tests have returned negative, ten are still pending and one test has returned positive. The borough was first made aware of the confirmed case of COVID-19 in the community on Sunday. The borough was notified by the hospital and immediately sent out a press release and a code...
As of Wednesday afternoon, Petersburg Medical Center has submitted 39 COVID-19 testing samples to state and commercial laboratories, 26 of which have come back negative and the remaining 13 tests are still pending, according to PMC's Laurie Miller at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 community update. "We're relieved everyday that we don't have a positive test, but we know they are coming," said PMC Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner. On Wednesday evening, the Alaska Department of Health and Social...
WRANGELL – The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, according to several members of Wrangell's local government, has been doing a very good job of communicating with them during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Assembly Member David Powell said that communications between SEARHC, Mayor Steve Prysunka, and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen have been taking place almost daily. Prysunka and Von Bargen are really on top of things, he said. Assembly Member Drew Larrabee added that, in his opinion...
As of Wednesday afternoon, four of the 13 local test specimens that have been sent to state and commercial laboratories have returned negative for COVID-19, according to Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter. The results of the remaining nine tests are still undetermined. "You would know a lot sooner if there were any positives," said Hofstetter, at a daily COVID-19 community update on Wednesday. Statewide, 59 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday evening, with 13...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a declaration of disaster emergency at Monday's assembly meeting in response to the COVID-19 outbreak across the country and state. Additionally, the assembly approved an emergency ordinance that would allow the assembly to declare a quorum by calling into an assembly meeting instead of being present. By declaring a disaster emergency, the borough is putting itself in position to better receive state and federal emergency funding should the borough requir...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A cruise ship turned away from ports in Asia over fears of a new virus will be cleaned to federal standards and carry a different crew when the vessel docks in Alaska, officials said. The MS Westerdam is expected to undergo a cleaning protocol approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before arriving in Juneau, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday. The ship is scheduled to dock in the port around March 22 after being denied permission to enter five ports over concerns about the virus that causes the d...
Southeast Alaska is currently going through its second year of increased hemlock sawfly activity, but an entomologist with the United States Forest Service said the trees that the insects feed off of should make a full recovery after the ecosystem regulates itself. "We have experienced these kinds of outbreaks in the past," said Elizabeth Graham, an entomologist with the State & Private Forestry, which is a branch of the USFS that focuses on forest health protection. "Usually we have a big...
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — A respiratory pathogen that scientists previously believed to be restricted to sheep and goats has been detected in moose and caribou in Alaska. Scientists have also recently identified Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, also known as Movi, in other animal species for the first time, including a bison in Montana, mule deer in New Mexico and white-tailed deer in the upper Midwest, the Peninsula Clarion reported last week. The pneumonia-like disease may have contributed to the death of an emaciated caribou from the Fortymile herd n...
The end of 2017 saw more confirmed flu cases in Petersburg than any year since at least 2007, according to medical center lab records. The medical center lab released statistics on the flu season in Petersburg so far. The results, mostly from those tested in the lab from November and December, showed that 62 people were positive for the flu. Liz Bacom, laboratory director and infection control manager for the Petersburg Medical Center, uses a metaphor in responding to those who ask why they...
Automation is coming to Alaska fishing boats in the form of cameras and sensors to track what’s coming and going over the rails. Starting next year, Electronic Monitoring systems (EM) can officially replace human observers as fishery data collectors on Alaska boats using longline and pot gear. Vessel operators who do not voluntarily switch to EMS remain subject to human observer coverage on randomly selected fishing trips. The onboard observer requirement originally included vessels 59 feet and larger, but was restructured in 2013 to include b...
BETHEL – Bethel has collected over a quarter of a million dollars in alcohol sales taxes since a pizza shop sold the city’s first beer in more than four decades earlier this year. Fili’s Pizza and AC Quick Stop have paid Bethel more than $277,000 this year in alcohol taxes, with the liquor store contributing the majority of the funds. Another liquor store recently opened, but its sales weren’t included, KYUK-AM reported AC Quick Stop opened in May and has paid nearly $272,000 in alcohol taxes. The pizza shop has paid about $5,000 under the 12...
The borough"s blue cart recycling program began at the beginning of the year and seems to be running smoothly, according to Public Works Director Karl Hagerman. "Overall the community has really accepted the new system," he says. "Customer satisfaction, I think, is pretty good and we"ve received very little negative feedback over the program." After the start of the program, Public Works distributed a handful of smaller 64-gallon blue carts to low volume households who requested them. The... Full story
WRANGELL – Local shellfish gatherers are advised to steer clear of the beach near Shoemaker Bay, after specimens tested positive for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The alert was posted to the Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research website at www.seator.org/data on Monday. A sampling of butterclams collected by the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff and sent in to Sitka for testing turned out to have more than twice the state’s threshold for saxitoxin, the cause of PSP. The s...
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: The seafood industry is Alaska’s largest private employer, putting more people to work than mining, oil/gas, timber and tourism combined. The annual revenue the seafood sector contributes to State coffers is second only to Big Oil. So where does the seafood industry rank for the major candidates running for Alaska Governor and the US Senate? Here’s what a thorough look at each of their campaign websites reveals, starting with the race for Governor (all in alphabetical order)— Byron Mallott (...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Two adult Alaskans died from the flu in the past week, according to state health officials. The deaths are the first to be reported during Alaska's 2013-14 influenza season and the first since new rules requiring health care facilities to report adult flu deaths to the state took effect in late December. Before, Alaska only tracked deaths among children. The state has not been notified of any child deaths so far this flu season. “People think, ‘Oh it’s just the flu,’” said Dr. Brian Yablon, a state epidemiologist. “But flu ac...
