Mayor Ethan Berkowitz tightened the reins in Anchorage with new rules for bars, restaurants, gyms, bingo halls, and more. Berkowitz is putting Anchorage’s economy back on ice by limiting the number of people that can be together in any commercial setting.
Starting Friday at 8 am, new restrictions will be imposed on Anchorage establishments, limiting the size of gatherings at indoor businesses.
Emergency Order EO-14 returns Anchorage to a modified version of Phase Two in the Safe Anchorage: Roadmap to Reopening the Municipality of Anchorage plan. It’s the mayor’s 14th emergency order, coming as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state surge and as hospitals in Anchorage begin to see beds filling up.
Meanwhile, State workers who are in communal areas where they cannot socially distance will be wearing masks, Gov. Dunleavy announced today.
“We want to continue to contribute to cutting down on possible spread,” he said. “And we want to do everything we can to keep our workers safe and those who come in to do business safe.”
He said that state workers are still working remotely, in many instances, and that would not apply to them, or to those who are working in enclosed offices.
But Gov. Dunleavy said that a statewide mandate on masks is not appropriate for Alaska. He used the example of the community of Hyder, which has not had a case of COVID-19.
It doesn’t make sense for Hyder to be under a statewide mask mandate. He said that most communities in Alaska are in that category of remoteness, while in the Railbelt communities, the local governments can target their mask mandates as appropriate. He asked Alaskans to not politicize the mask mandate issue, as some have done.
An additional death with COVID-19 occurred since yesterday, bringing the total to 19 since the outbreak reached Alaska in early March.
Another 92 cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hour reporting period, with 109 total having been hospitalized with COVID-19 since March, and 34 currently hospitalized, with one on a ventilator. There are 1,360 active cases in Alaska.
