COVID cases drop to 94 in the region

COVID-19 cases rise and fall in Nome as large events sweep through town, but it appears that travel-related COVID infections are decreasing. Case numbers continued to drop across the Lower 48 and in Alaska, which suggests that cases will continue to drop across the Bering Strait Region, too.

There are currently 94 active cases in the region: 66 in Nome, 11 in Brevig, 11 in Stebbins, four in Koyuk and one each in Savoonga and Shishmaref.

“We just need to get through all these activities,” said Norton Sound Health Corporation’s Dr. Mark Peterson, noting that the Iditarod Banquet was just two weeks away. As usual, case numbers were lower over the weekend but rose throughout the week, and he predicted that would continue through the month of March. “The trend is down across the state,” Dr. Peterson said.

With Iditarod events coming up, Dr. Peterson said that it is reasonable to mask up when gathering indoors with large groups of people. In the Lower 48, many states are starting to drop their mask mandates and open back up, again, but he advised caution. “We can look at April forward doing some opening up of things. We’re not going to talk about that yet, we’re just going to get through these next couple of weeks and see where we’re at,” he said.

Last week during the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden announced that more at-home test kits would be available through COVIDtests.gov. In partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, families are again able to order up to four free test kits for delivery. Test kits are also available for free at the Nome Rec Center and testing is still being done at Norton Sound Health Corporation.

According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center, which has been tracking data throughout the pandemic, the number of known COVID-19 deaths globally passed six million on Monday, March 7, 2022. While that is a deeply saddening figure by itself, some researchers have created

models which suggest the real number could be far higher. The Center for Disease Control’s Excess Death data suggests that deaths associated with COVID-19 could be as much as 32 percent higher. Using data from the Human Mortality Database and the World Mortality Dataset, researchers have estimated that the total deaths globally could be two to four times the official number.

The week in numbers:

Reporting for the Wednesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 3, NSHC identified 78 new COVID-19 cases in the region. There were 43 in Nome, 11 in Koyuk, eight in Stebbins, seven in Brevig, five in Shishmaref, two in Unalakleet and one each Shaktoolik and Savoonga.

This made for 159 active cases in the region: 104 in Nome, 14 in Koyuk, 12 in Brevig, nine in Stebbins, seven in Shishmaref, six in Savoonga, five in Unalakleet, one in Golovin and one in Shaktoolik.

Over the weekend from Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 6, NSHC identified 39 new COVID-19 cases in the region: 30 in Nome, four in Brevig Mission, three in Stebbins, and one each in Koyuk and Savoonga.

This brought the number of active cases in the region down to 92: of those 62 were in Nome, 11 in Stebbins, eight in Brevig, six in Koyuk, three in Shishmaref, and two cases in Savoonga.

On Monday, March 7, NSHC identified 32 new COVID-19 cases in the region. There were 19 in Nome, seven in Stebbins, four in Brevig Mission, and two in Koyuk.

Not even the Iditarod has been spared of COVID challenges. Nic Petit of Girdwood, about to run the Iditarod for the 12th time, tested positive, ending his 2022 Iditarod before it even began. Petit asked former winner Jeff King if he would run Petit’s dog team. King had a similar last-minute cancellation in 2020 due to health issues and gladly obliged. As of Tuesday, March 8, 2022: The USA has reported 79,339,202 cases and 960,311 deaths.

Alaska had 233,294 cases, 3,654 hospitalizations and 1,158 deaths. There are currently 70 people hospitalized in Alaska due to COVID-19 and three patients are on ventilators.

The Nome, Bering Strait and Norton Sound region has had at least 5,267 cases, 42 hospitalizations and 5 deaths.