If you want to eat out at a restaurant or go to church in Anchorage, you’ll need to do it this weekend.
As of Monday, Anchorage will be yet again in a lockdown mode. No more indoor dining. No more church. No more bingo halls, bars, or breweries that can’t provide outdoor seating.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz signed Emergency Order 15 on Friday, saying Anchorage had just experienced “our worst week of the epidemic as measured by new cases, active cases, and cases per day. New local cases are being found at more than double the rate of last week. The number of cases has exceeded the Anchorage Health Department’s capacity to rapidly trace and monitor every known case.”
The mayor said that “more people are in the hospital with COVID-19 in Anchorage now than at any point in the epidemic, and modeling from the University of Alaska Anchorage shows a deteriorating situation in which Anchorage exceeds hospital ICU capacity by mid-September if we don’t act immediately to flatten the curve.”
In fact, there were 28 people in Alaska hospitals who have COVID-19 on Friday, the lowest number in nine days. Three were on ventilators. 75 new cases of the coronavirus were identified in Anchorage on Friday and cases in the city are clearly on the rise, in spite of the mask mandate the mayor put in place over a month ago.
The Emergency Order begins Aug. 3 at 8 am and is in effect until Aug. 30 at midnight, requires extreme limits for the next months on all gatherings, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, breweries, bingo halls, and theaters.
- The mask mandate is also continued for another month for anyone outside of their household if they come into contact with people.
- At-risk individuals are asked to stay home.
- Anyone with symptoms that might be COVID-19 must stay home except for medical care and testing.
- Those coming into Anchorage from out of state must quarantine for 14 days.
- No gatherings of over 15 people.
- Outdoor gatherings that do not involve food or drink are limited to 50 people.
- Masks must be worn at all gatherings.
- Farmers markets are exempted.
- Outdoor food-truck events, and drive-in events where groups remain in separate vehicles and maintain physical distancing are exempted.
- Day cares, day camps, and K-12 schools are exempt.
- All workers who can work from home are required to do so.
- Bars and nightclubs are closed to dine-in service.
- Restaurants and breweries are closed to indoor dining.
- Bingo halls and theaters closed.
- Mayor Berkowitz extended the mask mandate effective today and remains in effect until modified or revoked. In other words, masks are required indefinitely.
On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly extended Mayor Berkowitz’s Proclamation of Emergency until Oct. 16. This action extends previous emergency orders that are in effect until modified, revoked, or until the end of the Proclamation of Emergency.
