As of Friday, some restaurants, retail centers, and personal service businesses will be able to be open up in Alaska, the Dunleavy Administration announced today.
Details on the easing of the regulations will be announced later this week, but generally speaking, restaurants and retail centers must be at no more than 25 percent capacity and people need to be spaced 10 feet apart. For restaurants, they can seat people together when they are in the same household.
Retail establishments will need to limit their customers to one person per household at a time. There will likely be universal face coverings ordered for public-facing employees and the shopping public will also be asked to continue to wear face coverings as much as possible when in public places.
Bars will not be opening on Friday, but salons, day spas, tattoo shops and other personal service shops will open, with certain social distancing and mask rules to be observed.
Fishing charters will begin to operate on Friday. If there are parties from separate families, the charters need to operate at 25 percent capacity.
Churches, weddings, and funerals will be able to provide services, with crowd limits now extended from 10 people to 20 people, and with six feet of social distance between people.
Anchorage, however, will not implement these mandates until Monday, according to Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum. The State and the Municipality have coordinated and come to an agreement about the delayed reopening for Anchorage.
Commissioner Crum addressed revisions to various health mandates:
Health Mandate 10: The 14-day quarantine for incoming travelers to Alaska will be extended to May 19, and this will be evaluated on a weekly basis for cases coming into state.
Health Mandate 11: Social distancing of six feet between people who are not part of the same household is extended until further notice.
Health Mandate 12: Intrastate travel is extended until further notice. This means no casual travel between communities in Alaska. For those traveling for fishing or hunting, they are not do engage in commerce in communities outside their hometowns.
So does this mean the Mayor’s crazy 42 day plan has been superseded by the Governer’s new plan?
Suzy – Evidently the state is not going to override the mayor, but the mayor is going to follow the state’s lead on this … but delay it until Monday. So he is not going to really follow his written plan, after all. – sd
Why do I feel like we should all just say screw it and not come out of hiding until they just say we can be free again? Because there is no way anyone will be able to make any money with the number restrictions, space and distancing restrictions. I’ll just wait until I can go out when I want and be where I want and without a dress code. This is just getting more and more ridiculous by the damn day.
Deanna,
You are right that this is getting ridiculous…we have new mandates superseding past mandates and elected leaders telling us we are in a “free society” when we cannot even give each other a pat on the back or a warm embracing hug?
The Stanford study shows that this bug has been out in society for many previous months and the mortality rate is the same as the common flu.
It was never the job of government to impose a medical system upon it”s population.
Citizens should still have medical freedom to make their own informed decisions and go about their way.
These delayed opens and lingering mandates will have many negative implications for the upcoming election cycle in America.
Who will be able to organize, where can they go…when will travel restrictions be lifted on residents and how will we all get by in the new economy that is already a fraction of what it once was?
Event 201 pandemic exercise reel! Bill Gates The Who the John Hopkins Society and the world economic forum and many more would like to stick a needle in your arm by force before this is over!
I support moving to get people back to work. At the same time, it’s not true that mortality rates in the US and across countries are the same as the common flu.
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Look at these data from John’s Hopkins – it’s sobering…
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https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
“Citizens should still have medical freedom to make their own informed decisions and go about their way.“
Does this mean you support a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion?
“Does this mean you support a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion?”
A woman does not have the right to take the life of another.
Isn’t that obvious?
That is an idiotic statement, don’t ya’ think… People who disagree with safely opening up the state do not respect those who are vulnerable with underlying health conditions &/or those who are infantile or elderly. Please have consideration for people’s lives, not your own livelihood/ pocketbook. And, to throw abortion rights into the conversation is ignorant, immature + reckless. May you be safe & well.
I totally agree! Listening to the wrong people!
I tend to agree that the limitations imposed on opening business will make it difficult for them to succeed, but it’s an interesting experiment.
I believe the writer will get her wish, mostly, to go out unencumbered by restrictions in a year or two. ‘Course, it doesn’t mean she’ll not get the disease if she hasn’t had it or had the vaccine when it arrives, but that’s a small price to pay for holing up in you pad for a year or two. I hope she likes beans and rice.
Well good news! A friend has broken down all the facts and everything we need to know about COVID-19!
1. Basically, you can’t leave the house for any reason, but if you have to, then you can.
2. Masks are useless, but maybe you have to wear one, it can save you, it is useless, but maybe it is mandatory as well.
3. Stores are closed, except those that are open.
4. You should not go to hospitals unless you have to go there. Same applies to doctors, you should only go there in case of emergency, provided you are not too sick.
5. This virus is deadly but still not too scary, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.
6. Gloves won’t help, but they can still help.
7. Everyone needs to stay HOME, but it’s important to GO OUT.
8. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarket, but there are many things missing when you go there in the evening, but not in the morning. Sometimes.
9. The virus has no effect on children except those it affects.
10. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…
11. You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you can also get sick without symptoms, have symptoms without being sick, or be contagious without having symptoms.
12. In order not to get sick, you have to eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand and it’s better not to go out, well, but no…
13. It’s better to get some fresh air, but you get looked at very wrong when you get some fresh air, and most importantly, you don’t go to parks or walk. But don’t sit down, except that you can do that now if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant (but not too old).
14. You can’t go to retirement homes, but you have to take care of the elderly and bring food and medication.
15. If you are sick, you can’t go out, but you can go to the pharmacy.
16. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house, which may have been prepared by people who didn’t wear masks or gloves. But you have to have your groceries decontaminated outside for 3 hours. Pizza too?
17. Every disturbing article or disturbing interview starts with “ I don’t want to trigger panic, but…”
18. You can’t see your older mother or grandmother, but you can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.
19. You can walk around with a friend but not with your family if they don’t live under the same roof.
20. You are safe if you maintain the appropriate social distance, but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance.
21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours, no, four, no, six, no, we didn’t say hours, maybe days? But it takes a damp environment. Oh no, not necessarily.
22. The virus stays in the air — well no, or yes, maybe, especially in a closed room, in one hour a sick person can infect ten, so if it falls, all our children were already infected at school before it was closed. But remember, if you stay at the recommended social distance, however in certain circumstances you should maintain a greater distance, which, studies show, the virus can travel further, maybe.
23. We count the number of deaths but we don’t know how many people are infected as we have only tested so far those who were “almost dead” to find out if that’s what they will die of…
24. We have no treatment, except that there may be one that apparently is not dangerous unless you take too much (which is the case with all medications). Orange man bad.
25. We should stay locked up until the virus disappears, but it will only disappear if we achieve collective immunity, so when it circulates… but we must no longer be locked up for that?
Touche!
Thanks that clears it all up for me:)
Well said!!
Possibly the most factually accurate comment on the C-19 mess I’ve read so far.
I hope you become more positive and just try to see all the good things we Alaskans are so blessed with!
The church criteria is unconstitutional, I will try to get the ADF to file a law suit. Dunleavy is drunk with tyrannical powers and needs to be taken down a notch.
Yo Burt… Nobody’s going to help you get fired up about church and Dunleavy’s not drunk w/ tyrannical powers. Your comment sounds like you might’ve dipped into the holy water though, eh? Tossing back a little sacrament tonight are we?
Has anyone told you that Berkowitz is Satan? That’s a clear violation of church and State. Report back.
Last Sunday there were 2 outdoor church services at the Anchorage Baptist Temple. One at 9am and the other at 11am. The Mayor Berkowitz ordered the Anchorage Police to the 9am service. The APD cruiser drove in front of the member to intimidate the members.
The Mayor Berkowitz is such a demon. He is drunk on power.
No he is not, he was following the restrictions put in place by the STATE. Get your facts straight before you jump off the deep end i.e. coming across as an insulting bully.
There is no virus clause in the Constitution.
There is a general welfare clause.
Teresa- Mayor Berkowitz definitely has satanic traits. It is a sad, that he so focused on putting his thumb on the residence in anchorage.
Is he going to order more police cars to churches next Sunday?
So why have a cruiser do a drive-by if nothing was going to be done? I thought civil disobedience was a cherished action by some political persuasions? Being in cars and not congregating …. perhaps viral transmission and automatic transmissions were confused. Self quarantining for 14 days after service would work also. The real question the answer is whether all of these actions made a difference. This started in uncharted territory.
Try attitude of gratitude for our government. We need to be responsible respectful and prayerful
Greater minds are at the helm and it’s good that the shrimp is climbing back under the dock.
It’s amazing that people are being so impatient about this and blaming the mayor and governor for wanting to protect the health and lives of all. Seriously, it’s your funerals you are rolling the dice with.
BS Fear mongering!
I can protect myself. Maybe you can’t, but I can.
Agreed
I blame the Chinese for not being up front at the beginning and, well, not upfront even now. 4,642 deaths in the largest population in the world? Seems like there are more Chinese that died in the US then in China.
Well this is a start and be prepared there will be a spike on Corona cases every country that did this HD a spike but then it calms down. Singapore just had the problem. We can not hide forever.
Sweden is betting on herd immunity … which if it works…. would blunt following waves although the virus is mutating.
As long as these ridiculous restrictions get rolled back to some sort of normal by early May, this is tolerable. If this goat rope is supposed to go on until June? You’d almost rather they just left the ban on. It’s getting to be a bit of a farce. SD did nothing. Rural travel bans make sense but mainland, road system Alaska could have been left alone. We don’t have and Chinese owned pork processing plants..
Governor Dunleavy has done a good job responding to this pandemic, our numbers are down and slowly easing restrictions is merited at this point. This plan is needed and gives us, the public, a framework to deal with. I’m not sure how businesses can survive for any length of time with 25% capacity, but that will be for each business to figure out.
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Keeping the 14 day quarantine should help keep our overall numbers down, although I expect they will start to rise. Remember that when this first started it was designed to keep hospitals from being overrun, in that regard we have done extremely well.
Agreed. Thank you for positive share. People need to consider how much work these officials are up against. Blessings.
Looks like Mayor Berkowitz caved…..wonders never cease!
It seems that damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I’m sure this is what the officiaIs feel every time they make a decision. I believe the human race should use common sense when going forward ( like washing hands more often, wearing gloves and or mask, staying home when sick).
It will be a tough decision to lessen these guidelines (some will agree some will disagree) what’s a person to do? We have all been there in one way or another in life.
It’s time to address the “delayed reopening for Anchorage” as a federal civil-rights complaint.
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The imperial dictate that: “…restaurants and retail centers must be at no more than 25 percent capacity and people need to be spaced 10 feet apart. For restaurants, they can seat people together when they are in the same household.” is not compatible with America’s Constitution.
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Government officials who made careers out of lying, benefitting from others’ pain, using others’ pain to create dependence on government, seem way too eager to prolong the shut down. Remind again why we should believe these same officials are suddenly telling us the truth?
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Throwing 22 million Americans out of work apparently didn’t stop the China flu. But our local Barney Fifes still need to do their fair share, kick a few more into poverty just to show they can. And we’ll just put up with this from the comfort of our own homes?
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What moron with an IQ above room temperature believes restaurants and retail centers will survive, much less profit, with no more than 25 percent capacity and people spaced 10 feet apart?
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So productive Anchorage residents have to decide whether they want to sacrifice their Constitutional freedoms and their economy to satisfy: (a) “models” that have never been correct, (b) dictatorial, incompetent public officials intent on creating a twenty-first century Great Depression, and (c) the fiction that locking them down is the only way to defeat China flu.
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Bums are free to turn downtown Anchorage into a big biohazard site, but productive Anchorage residents must submit to public-health “mandates”?
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Residents have options, beginning with federal civil-rights complaints, class-action lawsuits demanding reparations, demands for jury trials, jury nullification in cases involving “mandate”
offenders, and public protests.
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Another option is class-action lawsuits demanding property-tax rebates for arbitrarily denied, taxpayer-subsidized services like “education”, bus service, bum biohazard mitigation, etc.
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But doing nothing while one’s community is crushed into financial ruin is not an option.
If you think 25% capacity is bad, wait until you get a load of the knock on effects of $20 a barrel oil and no tourists.
Good news is nobody’ll gripe much about tourists not paying their fair share to support local emirates, tourist boats polluting the water, tourist airplanes hitting the ground, tourists offended by bums polluting Anchorage’s downtown tourist trap.
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Might even start hearing about state and local governments collapsing in a depression-era economy which can’t support them in the manner to which they’ve become entitled.
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Not entirely a bad thing, yes?
And sue who? So your answer is more of the blame game. Sue China. I read where a Japanese student said that we dropped the A bombs on Japan because they stood up to the “White Man”.
Do some research on the 1918 Spanish flu. This virus has killed as many people as the regular flu does in a year. it took two months. many of the dead are health care providers. they have given their lives for selfish jerks who didn’t think they could get sick. ststop being selfish – you can pass it to others. your freedoms end at my nose. if you wear face coverings and do handwashing, social distancing- you protect all. There will be a second and maybe third wave. if it follows the template of the Spanish flu, millions will die. Go to a graveyard in rural AK and see the old gravestones of the different pandemics for a reality check
People have repeatedly shown they are either too stupid or actively ignorant to learn from history. Lessons henceforth will only be learned the hard way.
May be a fourth and a fifth wave too! Not sure anybody’ll be around for the sixth…
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Of course proper Spanish flu research shows flu killed pretty much everybody the Great War missed and America never returned to normal, never became the
world’s military and economic leader and Americans had to wear masques, stay 6 feet apart, get flu tests and carry a national immunity card required for all government and commercial services, but Americans were safe and never died of anything unapproved.
Attorney General Barr is right about the infractions on our liberties that this “hunker down” imposes. Everyone should give the US Attorney’s office and complain.
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