State officials confident that Alaska medical facilities now have enough personal protective equipment and hospital capacity to deal with anticipated pandemic challenges are rescinding a temporary ban on certain elective surgeries, in an effort to get the economy going again.
The announcement came on Tuesday, April 14, during a news conference updating the status of the spread of the novel coronavirus in Alaska. State health officials said eight more residents tested positive for COVID-19 for the 24-hour period ended at midnight April 13, bringing the total number of people infected in Alaska to 285. Of that total 98 have recovered, 32 have been hospitalized and nine have died. The eight newly diagnosed individuals include four residents of Anchorage, plus one each in Girdwood, Juneau, Wasilla and Craig.
A total of 8,348 Alaskans have been tested to date.
Alaska still has the lowest number of all 50 states of people testing positive to the virus.
Details on which non-urgent or elective medical procedures will now be allowed to procedure were to be released on Wednesday, April 15.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the decision was based on the state’s decision that there was now enough personal protective equipment on hand in the state to handle anticipated COVID-19 needs. This would allow health care providers to provide these services while the state keeps a close eye on the overall situation, Dunleavy said.
“If we don’t see a spike (of people testing positive for COVID-19) we know people are following protocols and that reopening of the economy for that one small sector is working,” he said. “Then we will talk about others to open up.”
While this is not back to normal, Alaskans have done a pretty good job on the numbers, he said.
“We are not rewarding ourselves. We are doing the right thing, but we are going to watch it very, very carefully.”
The Blood Bank of Alaska, in Anchorage, is asking eligible patients who have fully recovered from the virus to donate convalescent plasma, which contains antibodies that may be used to treat those infected with the same virus.
Blood bank officials said the request from the Food and Drug Administration was to offer an additional form of treatment for those critically ill with COVID-19. While clinical trials are being performed for widespread use of this treatment, the FDA has authorized patients with, or at risk of, severe or life-threatening COVID-19 virus to receive this treatment through an expanded access program.
A mandate issued by the governor on March 19 required postponement or cancellation of all elective procedures for three months, in order to assure that Alaska health systems had the capacity and personal protective equipment to deal with an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases. The mandate did not apply to surgical cases coming through the emergency room or for existing hospitalized patients.
In another effort to slowly move the state economy back on track, Dunleavy announced that restaurants taking orders for food to go will also be able to include orders for beer and wine or offer those beverages for curbside pickup as part of to go orders.
In a mandate issued on March 17, the governor ordered all bars, breweries, restaurants, food and beverage kiosks or trucks and other establishments serving food or beverages to close for dine-in service, in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Only to go or delivery orders were allowed.
The same mandate closed theaters, gyms and fitness centers, bowling alleys and bingo halls, all of which remain closed.
State officials meanwhile continued to wrestle with the question of how to conduct the upcoming commercial salmon fisheries, ranging from the Copper River opener to the Bristol Bay fishery, famed for having the world’s largest run of wild sockeye salmon.
The state must weigh a number of factors in collaboration with processors, fishermen and communities to determine if the fisheries can operate in a manner that will protect those involved in the fishery as well as residents of coastal fisheries communities from COVID-19.
While all agree that it will be anything but business as usual, a number of processors and harvesters are determined to come up with a plan that will keep the virus from spreading.
On the other side are a number of residents of coastal communities who are descended from those who died in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19, and want the fishery closed down for 2020.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has projected that the Chinook salmon run into the Copper River will be 20 percent above the 10-year average this year, while the wild sockeye salmon run will be nearly 33 percent below that 10-year average.
In Bristol Bay the projected run is nearly 49 million red salmon, with a Bristol Bay harvest of nearly 35 million fish.
