10 new cases; total of 143, no new deaths, hospitalizations

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RESTAURANT AND BARS WILL REMAIN CLOSED TO DINE-IN FOR NOW

The number of cases of COVID-19 coronavirus rose to 143 today in Alaska with 10 new cases diagnosed since yesterday. More than 5,000 Alaskans have been tested for what some call the “Wuhan Virus,” which originated in Wuhan, China.

The cases were Anchorage (2), Fairbanks (3), North Pole (2), Juneau (1), Ketchikan (1) and Wasilla (1).

That brings Anchorage to a total of 67 known cases, while Kenai Peninsula has 8, Fairbanks/North Pole has 40, Mat-Su has four, Juneau has 10 and Ketchikan has 14.

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, said that masks that people are now using with greater frequency are a potential way to have asymptomatic people not spread the virus to others, but that it’s important to save the N95 masks for health professionals dealing with the virus.

Zink said she has been looking at data relating to masks from the Czech Republic, South Korea, and China. “And out of an abundance of caution we’re seeing this movement for ‘masks for all.’ Realize that the mask is not going to prevent the disease completely,” she said. Social distancing, hand washing, not touching your face, and sanitizing surfaces is more effective, but masks can help, since so many people have the virus but evidently have no symptoms.

“Some people have the virus in their nose even though they feel well,” she said.

The governor’s press conferences have been feeding the public with a firehose of information on how the State is responding to the pandemic. The topics deal with everything from eligibility requirements for the Pioneer Homes and senior benefits programs, to how children are accessing distance learning.

The health mandates announced two weeks ago that closed libraries, museums, dining establishments and bars through the end of March will continue until at some point in the future, said Adam Crum, commissioner of Health and Social Services.

Gov. Dunleavy said that Alaskans seem to be taking to heart the importance of social distancing, and that Alaska may have a natural advantage in that regard. But he warned that Alaska will be in for a tough ride over the next couple of weeks, if the epidemiological models pan out.

15 COMMENTS

  1. It’s nice to have an intelligent, competent, grown up, as the executive of our state.

    There’s three adjectives you won’t hear used to describe the legislature any time soon…

  2. Again, what exactly are we destroying the State over? Fear generated by a computer model that is soooo far off it isn’t even close.

    • Exactly, 99.8% of the population have no worries, even if they get it they just ride it out at home. It’s political malpractice to destroy the economy. In a few months Americans will have burned through their savings, eventually there will be huge foreclosures and at least half of the jobs lost will not come back for years. The political cure to the overblown medical problem is deadly. Thousands will die in the coming Greatest Depression.

      • Could you tell us where you got the idea that the virus only hurts 0.2% of the population?

        No one in a position to know has backed up that number you quote?

        Where did you find that?

  3. Two test from Abbott and Schein do different things..How Many Are infected and how many have Recovered? “Abbott Laboratories is unveiling a coronavirus test that can tell if someone is infected in as little as five minutes, and is so small and portable it can be used in almost any health-care setting.”

    “Other companies are also rolling out faster testing systems. Henry Schein Inc. on Thursday said its point-of-care antibody test, which looks for evidence that a person’s immune system has already fought off the infection, was available. The blood test can be given at the point of care and delivers results in about 15 minutes, though it can’t be used to definitively diagnose a current infection.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/abbott-launches-5-minute-covid-19-test-for-use-almost-anywhere

  4. I never thought the Apocalypse would look like this…

    I have a persisting dream that somewhere, some really bright but conflicted researcher (and I could care less about the gender, race, creed or sexual orientation of the person) will have an insight that will stop the virus dead.

    Be safe everyone and look after those that you hold dear.

    • Please, that nothing but Fear Mongering. Only a very few die and they all have underlying conditions. There is a huge difference between dying of and dying with. Most of the deaths are the with type not the of type. But the Government has to inflate the numbers to increase the Fear in order to justify their soft Martial Law and Bill of Rights suspending actions. Give me Liberty or Give me Death!!!!

      • Not true Greg, you have more reading to do.

        This disease kills people of all ages and of various levels of personal health.

        You most definitely do not have to have other underlying conditions for this virus to kill you.

        It is utterly irresponsible to claim that it does.

  5. From https://www.worldometers.info/ we get context:
    .
    Coronavirus Cases: 986,775
    Deaths: 50,412
    Recovered: 206,372
    .
    50,412 Coronavirus Cases Deaths
    .
    78,178 Deaths of mothers during birth this year
    122,976 Seasonal flu deaths this year
    248,095 Deaths caused by malaria this year
    271,230 Suicides this year
    341,430 Road traffic accident fatalities this year
    425,192 Deaths caused by HIV/AIDS this year
    632,603 Deaths caused by alcohol this year
    1,264,409 Deaths caused by smoking this year
    1,922,540 Deaths of children under 5 this year
    2,077,300 Deaths caused by cancer this year
    3,283,475 Communicable disease deaths this year
    .
    and… 10,750,822 Abortions this year
    .
    Think about this, Guv:
    .
    Our legislature failed us, our supreme court’s adrift on its own agenda, you’re all we got left.
    .
    This ain’t “Vogue”, we don’t need models, especially not models from some third-rate state-run excuse for an institution of so-called higher learning! Remember global-warming models, how well those worked out?
    .
    We need Trump-style leadership here, good, optimistic news, facts about what’s working in the world, what you’re doing to bring those successes to Alaska!
    .
    Don’t worry about a recall petition that’s got as much chance of success as a snowball in hell.
    .
    And while you’re at it, veto that damned “budget”, call a news conference, and explain why that thing, and any more like it will get the same tender care as a Planned Parenthood product!
    .
    C’mon Guv, lead us, or Peoples Imperial State Senate President and Co-Governor Giessel’s gonna fill the void, which maybe that one’s trying to do already.
    .
    Such a nightmare scenario we don’t need! You want begging? Okay you got begging… Pretty Please Guv, lead us out of our homebrew China virus panic, import adult experts from President Trump’s team to help get it done, and re-open Alaska… lobbyist-legislator team and recalls be damned.
    .
    Remember, you want a pandemic, all you got to do is mix “panic” with “dem”.
    .
    And you’re not about that, Gov…. productive Alaskans elected you, and will keep you, because you’re not about that.

    • You might want to let a little time pass before you compare some unrelated static numbers collected over a one year time span and those that are climbing exponentially each day but have only been tracked for a very short few weeks..

      You do know what exponential means?

      The riff was one thing, anybody can run on about their particular partisan musings, but if you’re going to hold up data for comparison, bats to cantaloupes isn’t a reliable data set.

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