THE FIRST CASE IN ALASKA IS A CARGO PILOT
The first case of COVID-19 coronavirus has come to Alaska . Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink announced the news today at a 5 pm press conference.
“This is no surprise, it’s not extraordinary,” said Gov. Dunleavy. “It was just a matter of time. We feel good about the protocols we have in place,” he said, saying that protocols will be continually reassessed.
“There is no reason to panic, no reason to get upset,” Dunleavy said.
The case was identified at Alaska Regional Hospital.
It was a foreign national individual, a male who is transiting through Alaska. He knew about the virus, he was monitoring himself, and as soon as he developed symptoms, he called ahead, was assessed, and tested in Alaska. The patient self isolated in an appropriate manner, Zink said.
“This is an isolated case we think we can contain,” Zink said, saying it is different from community transmission.
The person has not been wandering through the community, but Zink would not say where the person came from or through which countries. The person did travel to Alaska through the Ted Stevens International Airport in the past 48 hours. The person is an adult, but Zink would not say more about where this person may have been or what hotel the person may have been at.
Updated: Must Read Alaska has learned that it was a cargo pilot or crew and that he knew he was symptomatic when he landed. The Governor’s Office has confirmed that the person was on a cargo flight that was owned by a private company. This means the exposure to the general community at large was greatly reduced.
The person has been released from Alaska Regional Hospital and placed in a quarantined housing situation that Zink said would remain private.
Elsewhere in aviation, an American Airlines pilot who is based in Dallas-Fort Worth, has been diagnosed with the virus and is being treated. American Airlines has about 15,000 pilots; this may be the first case of a commercial airline pilot becoming infected.
This story is being updated, so check back…
Good stuff. Pilot did the right thing, government did the right thing, and hopefully Alaskans will do the right thing and keep a cool head about it.
Excellent reporting. Thanks, Suzanne!
Alaska has a grown up for a governor and that is going to yield huge benefits in how are state will be able to combat this threat. It’s sobering to think how this would go, were there partisan hacks at the wheel..
Why the secret as to where he came from , if this is a secret what else are you not telling us?
Who would have guessed that a panic run on TP, and the cancellation of live sports would usher in the Apocalypse?
Washington’s Secretary of Health John Wiesman said that 2% of the state’s positive cases of COVID-19 are in people younger than age 19.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.03.20028423v1
Children do not have immunity from this virus.
Thanks for getting on this, Suzanne. More detail here at MRAK than at any other source.
I must have missed the part where anyone was saying children are immune to this disease. The facts show they aren’t as susceptible to falling ill from this disease and there haven’t been any reported deaths in children under 9 and only a few deaths from those between 9-19. Since a little over 22% of Washingtonians are under 18, having only 2% of those who tested positive being in this age group bears that out.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/WA/AGE295218
The point is that children are a vector in transmitting the disease to others.
They do get the virus, they most often don’t show symptoms, but they can pass it on.
So, unfortunately, telling grandparents to hug their children, thinking some ‘immunity’ will get passed along is very bad advice.
You may have to practice distancing even from your own children and grandchildren,
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/178c07-covid-19-coronavirus-health-advice-for-children/
Just curious, but where are all the cries on here to cut government more?
Cut government more. Ask and ye shall receive.
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