A Word of Thanks
Dear Editor: Thank you to all of the wonderful supporters and sponsors of the 2021 Change Your Latitude Open Water Challenge. It was great to have swimmers back to Sitka and seeing 43 finishers in the 10k, 6k, 3k, and 1k swims!
The Baranof Barracuda Swim Club and race organizers would especially like to thank Fisherman’s Quay, LFS Inc., Russell’s, and New Wave Swim Buoy for support, donations and prizes for this year’s event.
Chef Kayla, your salmon barbecue was out of this world and certainly a topic of joy to all our swimmers and volunteers!
Thank you to all of our volunteer safety kayakers and support boats, and the U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team for their support of the swimmers while in the water. Dr. Julian Naylor and Dr. Lisa Antonio, who tended to all of us on land. Without those keen eyes out there on the water, and expert help for a cold swimmer or two, this event wouldn’t be wise to do. A special thank you to all of our kayak volunteers, including those from the Sitka AmeriCorps crew. Our swimmers were yet again impressed and pleased with
And to all of the individual volunteers – too many to call out individually – but a huge thank you to you. Sitka High swimmers, thank you for your time and energy in helping transport tables and chairs!
Also this year we were able to offer the 34 out-of-town swimmers and their friends and family the unique opportunity of several remote adventure swims in the days leading up to Sunday’s race. Those swims have inspired many of the swimmers to commit to returning next year and bringing friends along with them. A special thank you to Devon and Kris Calvin, Dean Orbison, the Guillory family and other local swimmers for inspiring the idea, resources and motivation in offering that to our guests! We look forward to an even bigger event in 2022!
Kevin Knox, Race Director,
Change Your Latitude-57°
North Open Water Challenge
Head Coach,
Baranof Barracudas Swim Club
Schools and COVID
Dear Editor: Gunalcheesh for being here for us. Every day I get your paper and go straight to the “COVID report” and go through all the numbers and appreciate all your articles and explanations! You have been rock stars for our community during these tough times. All of the Sitka Sentinel staff need to know how vital their contribution is to our community! I also really appreciate the Dermot Cole articles that you print!
I am writing out of concern for all our Sitka children that cannot be vaccinated yet and are about to start school. We are reading horror stories of children’s hospitals down south that are full of children. One children’s hospital in Dallas County was quoted saying something like, “If you want to bring your child to our hospital,” you are going to have to wait for another child to die!” This is a surge of the unvaccinated getting the highly contagious Delta variant then it “crossing over to the vaccinated folks (not as dangerous) and then infecting children. Thirty percent of those children are getting “long-term effects,” and that high number is not acceptable for growing children. We have a lot of children in Sitka that have gotten VERY SICK from this and just Sunday two more children cases were reported. Even if we have a new more infectious disease that we are fighting, and it is targeting children with over 2,000 times the viral load, and vaccinations for children are only about four months away, and our danger level in Sitka is HIGH, our School Board has canceled the remote learning and plan on starting school that allows “indoor mask breaks?”
Apparently this is really happening and under these conditions I have a few suggestions. First, the SSD should not have the same policy for vaccinated students as they have for students who are not vaccinated! That does not make sense. Also, since testing is not mandatory but clearly provides much-needed data, I suggest that SSD take a page from the MEHS playbook and test all children before they start school and put them on a testing rotation. No brainer, right? But according to the School Board policy, testing is offered but not mandatory, so that means PARENTS need to get their child tested at the school before they start and put them on a rotating schedule, where they get tested every two weeks? It sounds like they have testing right in the school office?
At MEHS, they found students who were positive during regular testing rotations last year and were able to trace close contacts and it was a really smart thing to do. Testing is a vital part of halting this disease. We have to be on our toes until the vaccines for children arrive. For those parents who say, “My child has already had this disease so I have no worries,” think again. Think how sick your child got and be on the look-out for long-term effects. Also think about the children in our school district who are on medications for ADHD or asthma, or seizure medication, etc. Think about the children who have low vitamin D levels due to our lack of sunshine, etc.
If you have little ones at home, make sure your school-age children are clear of contamination when they get home. In Dallas County they have children younger than 2 in ICU on small ventilators. I heard that Seattle is not taking any more COVID patients from Alaska because they are full? Starting school up with full classrooms is like playing Delta roulette with our children. We all have to pull together and protect ALL of our children because this Delta variant targets them and they are our hope for the future.
Gunalcheesh to all Sitkans who have gotten vaccinations. It shows our commitment and love for our neighbors!
Patty Dick, Sitka
