At a Friday, Aug. 14 special meeting, Cordova City Council discussed the issue of recently arrived out-of-state travelers who had been observed visiting local grocery and liquor stores rather than self-isolating.
According to Alaska Health Mandate 010, all out-of-state travelers must follow strict social distancing for 14 days after arriving, or receive a negative test result from a test taken seven-14 days after arrival. This mandate applies both to Alaska residents and nonresidents.
Councilwoman Anne Schaefer suggested improving signage and flyers informing travelers of public health restrictions. However, City Manager Helen Howarth said that city ambassadors at Merle K. “Mudhole” Smith Airport had provided travelers with clear and up-to-date information that had evidently been ignored.
“There are some people that are just going to flout the rules: ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you, no problem, I’ve got it covered,’ and then they do exactly the opposite of what they said they would do and what we asked them to do,” Howarth said. “That kind of behavior is dangerous — it could cause a real problem for our community. So, our recommendation is to get whatever information you can and call the police and alert them.”
The city will not wait to follow the state’s lead on enforcing public health mandates, Howarth said. However, the city, like the state, has found policing these mandates challenging. The city currently lacks the ability to carry out home checks and other procedures for enforcing coronavirus safety, officials said.
“With the officers’ schedules that we have, now, here in town, chasing down loose ends would be really, really difficult,” Fire Marshal Paul Trumblee told the council. “Honestly, I don’t know how to address it.”
New public health signage is expected to arrive from the state, Howarth said. Mayor Clay Koplin suggested relying on positive reinforcement to encourage new arrivals to follow public health mandates.
“I know enforcement is not realistic with the number of people you have on staff, chasing down random people around town and checking up on them and whatnot,” Schaefer told Trumblee.
The city has prioritized safely reopening the Cordova Center, Howarth said. If the city is comfortable with schools reopening, it should also be comfortable with city hall reopening, she said.
“Everybody’s pushing for the schools to open, but we’re not even having meetings in person,” Councilman David Allison said. “We can’t hardly ask our kids and our teachers to go back to school when we’re not even opening up city hall and we’re not having meetings face-to-face… I think it’s time that we got back to business.”
The Cordova Center is tentatively expected to reopen by mid-September at the latest, Howarth said Wednesday, Aug. 19. Plexiglas sneeze guards for Cordova Public Library and Cordova Historical Museum are expected to arrive shortly, she said.
“The little no-touch hand sanitizer dispensers are on back-order for about the next hundred years, so we’re looking at another strategy for that,” Howarth said.
Cordova’s schools are scheduled to begin returning students to classrooms Sept. 3. A draft schedule that would have kept students out of classrooms for nine weeks was accelerated significantly in response to feedback.
The Bidarki Recreation Center is scheduled to reopen Aug. 31. Its facilities will be accessible by appointment only and will not feature organized athletics, saunas or showers. Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 25, appointments may be made by phone at 907-424-7282. Patrons may make up to three one-hour appointments each week, officials said.
Permanent hand-washing stations are planned to be installed at Cordova Harbor, said Director of Public Works Samantha Greenwood. Currently, temporary foot-operated hand-washing stations are available at entrances to the harbor.
As of Aug. 19, Cordova has reported 17 cases of the novel coronavirus, all of which have recovered. The city’s most recent cases were a pair of newly arrived fishery workers, diagnosed with the virus Aug. 4.
