Targeted messaging; State officials continue to urge social distancing as experts say younger people drive uptick in COVID-19 cases

ANCHORAGE — Gov. Mike Dunleavy and members of his health team addressed questions at a press conference Monday after the record for new COVID-19 cases in a day was broken twice over the weekend.

Alaska currently has 1,539 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 60 new resident cases and 11 new non-resident cases announced Monday. Of the 1,539 total cases, 902 are active and 620 are listed as recovered.

“I just wanted you to know that we’re on top of this and what I mean by that is we’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure that our hospital capacity remains in tact, that we do everything we can to safeguard those that are the most vulnerable,” said Dunleavy. “I’m confident that with you with our team and with others as I said early on months ago, we will get through this. Alaska will get through this and we’ll get stronger in the end.”

Over the weekend, 3,200 more COVID-19 tests were administered and 146,590 tests have been administered thus far, making Alaska the fifth-most tested state in the United States. The 1.85 percent positive rate remains lower than the national average of 8.8 percent and Alaska’s 17 deaths out of 1,539 total cases remains the lowest in the nation. One new hospitalization was announced on Monday with 18 currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 complications and 87 cumulative hospitalizations.

“Alaska has been out in front of doing everything we can to mitigate this virus, at the same time looking at a balance with our daily lives whether that’s the economy, our jobs, whether that’s getting out and going shopping, driving, whether that is going to church. We have tried to make a balance here in Alaska,” said Dunleavy. “I can assure the Alaskan public that we’re goin to do everything we can to mitigate and manage this virus that is growing in terms of case numbers and we will continually watch this.”

The Mat-Su now has 151 positive cases of COVID-19 and five new cases were reported on Monday with four of those from Wasilla. In a new feature on the Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 response hub dashboard, locations can view their seven and 14 day average case numbers. The Mat-su has an average of 34 cases over the last seven days and 68 over the last 14 days. In comparison, the state’s 14 day rolling average is 5.6 cases per 100,000 people.

Alaska’s state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin presented following Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink. McLaughlin said that continued targeted messaging of social distancing, masks, hand washing and symptom monitoring needed to be shared with young people that are now testing positive for coronavirus more frequently.

“One thing that I really want to underscore is that the epidemiology of this epidemic is continuing to change both nationally and here in Alaska. One of the big changes that we’re seeing is that we are seeing many more young adults get COVID-19,” said McLaughlin. “We don’t know for sure why we’re seeing so many more cases in younger adults”

Dr. Zink said during her presentation that initially, cases were distributed in a bell curve with even numbers of positive tests for older and younger people. Zink said that the age range currently driving the spread of COVID-19 is shifting younger.

“The good news is that young people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from covid but the concern from this is that the virus is becoming more widespread which can lead to a higher exposure risk to vulnerable populations. Now fortunately the high risk populations are much better protected now than they were at the beginning,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said that factors of an increase of young people becoming infected was attributable to young people being more likely to go to work, more likely to congregate with one another and less likely to comply with interventions such as social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and self quarantining.

“That’s what we’re asking is for all people just to do their part and it’s really simple there are just three basic components to just doing your part, number one is socially distance. Number two is wearing a face covering when you’re around people that are not in your family if you think you’re going to be in close contact to them within six feet for sure you want to have a mask on, but in general whenever you’re going to be in crowded situations or situations where you’ve got other people you want to be wearing a mask and then the last thing is washing your hands and I guess I would add a fourth and that is certainly monitor for symptoms,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin also said that he has received many questions about immunity and reinfection of those who have been infected with COVID-19 and said that epidemiologists do not know for sure yet and that a number of epidemiological studies are underway to understand the issue of reinfection. Health and Social Services Department Director Heidi Hedberg briefly presented to ensure that all Alaskan hospitals had been reviewing procedures to react to a surge in hospitalizations, should it occur. Hedberg said that 139 additional university staff will soon begin working to help with contact tracing for those who test positive and 30 additional National Guard and school nurses will also come onboard this week. Hedberg said that each hospital has secured their own 30-day supply of personal protective equipment.

“The issue of masks has become really controversial across the country. It doesn’t appear to be an issue in other countries but in this country it has and to some degree it’s becoming politicized. There’s no doubt the question is do masks quote work,” asked Dunleavy.

Dunleavy thoroughly discussed the justification for mask wearing and the different types of masks made for separate purposes. Dunleavy told stories about two Alaskan residents who wear masks to protect their loved ones and admitted that he himself does not like wearing a mask but that if he ran a business his employees would wear masks.

“This particular disease is highly infectious, we’ve talked about this for months in terms of social distancing and wearing a cloth mask is a form of social distancing. It’s a tool to reduce the spread, it doesn’t eliminate the spread, it’s not constructed to eliminate the spread, it’s equivalent to a more effective hand over the mouth,” said Dunleavy. “We don’t need to take draconian actions here in Alaska.”

Dunleavy discussed the numbers and metrics observed by his administration as they consider the new reports of positive cases in Alaska and how to respond. Dunleavy said that the death rate, hospitalization rate, positivity rate and R-naught values factor into their decisions, and said that mask mandates and restrictions occurring in the Lower 48 were acts of desperation.

“This is what’s really important that we’re all grappling with in this world not just in Alaska but in this world, in this country is what’s the balance and what’s the endgame,” said Dunleavy. “I can assure Alaskans we’re on top of this to the extent that anyone can be and we’ll make decisions that we believe will be for the betterment of Alaska health wise, societal wise economically wise etc.”

Dunleavy announced that he will hold a press conference with Commissioner of Education Michael Johnson in August discussing the potential reopening of schools with in-person instruction. The Mat-Su Borough School District currently will open under a green model with students given the opportunity to opt-in to an at-home learning model.

“We’re planning for any contingency, what the commissioner is doing and his charge is to make sure that kids are educated,” said Dunleavy. “Yes we’re concerned about what’s going to happen with schools but we think we can make it work.”