Daily Sitka Sentinel

6 More of Ferry’s Crew Test Positive for COVID

ANCHORAGE (AP) — Six more crew members aboard a state ferry have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Tuesday.

This brings the total number of employees on the state ferry Tustumena to seven who have tested positive for COVID-19. All will quarantine on the ferry. 

The Tustumena returned to Homer Monday after a crew member tested positive Saturday in Dutch Harbor. Upon the vessel’s arrival, 40 people were tested, 34 employees and six passengers. 

All passengers and some crew members who tested negative were allowed to leave the ship if they could self-monitor and quarantine for 14 days.

Some crew members will stay aboard to help support the ship, officials said. They will be separated from the seven individuals who tested positive.

The ferry will be sanitized, and resume operations on June 27.

State health officials reported the state’s first death from COVID-19 in over a month, bringing the total number of deaths to 11. A resident at the Providence Transitional Care Center in Anchorage tested positive and was hospitalized before dying Sunday, hospital spokesman Mike Canfield said.

Eleven new cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the number of Alaskans to have had the coronavirus to 573. That number includes 389 people who have recovered.