Nome sees ten new COVID cases, one in Stebbins
In the last week, Norton Sound Health Corporation has identified 10 new active cases of COVD-19 in Nome and one in Stebbins, bringing the total number of active cases across the region to 11.
On Tuesday, July 20, five individuals tested positive for the coronavirus. Of the five, two cases were travel related, and three were community spread. According to a NSHC press release, all five were from the same cluster.
On Wednesday, July 21, an additional five individuals tested positive for COVID-19. The five cases were community spread and linked to the cluster of cases from the day before.
“All of these cases were a cluster, and were tied together,” NSHC president and CEO Angie Gorn said during the weekly COVID-19 conference call. “Outside of our region, the state of Alaska and other states are observing some increased trends, positive cases and hospitalizations.”
A resident of Stebbins tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, July 26. The case is travel related, according to a NSHC press release.
Across the United States, the Delta strain of COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc amongst unvaccinated populations.
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which took him to Norton Sound Health Regional hospital.
“We were told to get a man who had been mauled by a bear,” said Jim West Jr., the Nome Volunteer Fire and Ambulance chief. “He walked off the helicopter and walked into the ambulance. He had no animal bites and wasn’t bleeding.”
Danielle Rivet, a PhD candidate studying bears at the University of Saskatchewan, says it’s possible to walk away from a bear attack without lacerations.
“A predatory bear attack is incredibly rare,” she explained. “If it’s a defensive attack, the bear’s goal is just to neutralize whatever the threat is. They don’t necessarily have to make physical contact. They might make a lot of sounds at you or run at you, but they don’t have to necessarily have to come into contact with you. People do occasionally come out with lacerations on their face or on their body.”
Jessee told the Nugget the bear pounced on him, knocking him off his ATV, and then stalked him for several days.
“Bears are very smart, very curious, and they’re going to check things out,” Rivet said. “It’s not uncommon for bears to return to an area where they have encountered a threat previously, and if they feel that the threat is still there, they’ll keep coming back until they feel that that particular threat has been neutralized.”
Rivet said it’s possible a brown bear was simply defending its territory.
“It could be anything ranging from defense of cubs to defense of territory,” she said. “Perhaps there was a carcass nearby or a food source that was important to that particular bear. It could have been a young bear that has never really encountered people before … or an old or rooted bear that was hungry or particularly defensive of their food source.”
Jessee told the Nugget that his doctors recommended he stay off his feet for a while, and it might take some time for his bruises and leg injury to heal.
Grizzly bears, which can weigh upwards of 700 pounds and have long, sharp claws, have killed several individuals in the last year, including two men in Alaska. Most survivors have large lacerations or injuries, significantly worse than Jessee’s bruising and injured knee.
“He was okay, he seemed more shaken up than anything else,” said West. “If [his story] was false or not, I don’t know. We just took him at his word.”
Alaska State Trooper Sergeant Aileen Witrosky said the area is “a high bear area.”
“There’s usually a lot of bears in the area,” she said. “He came in and talked to us and told us about the bear, and we have a lot of bears on the Seward Peninsula anyway, so it made sense.”
When planning to leave areas with cell phone service, particularly in areas with dangerous wildlife, the Coast Guard pilot Carbajal recommends individuals carry satellite communication devices, and to tell friends and family when they leave and when they expect to return.
Several anonymous sources whose identities are known to the Nugget said they warned Jessee to not venture out by himself and worry now that he’s put others in danger. It takes about ten hours to reach the campsite. Those who travel there use the Nome-Council Highway, turn off the road near mile 46 and then travel on the Corduroy Road and on fourwheeler trails for another 30 miles across the tundra, involving several stream crossings over the Casadepaga River and other creeks. Rainy weather conditions make the trip even more treacherous.