By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka’s pandemic incident management team has announced that it is shifting from emergency response into “a monitoring phase.”
“We are having access to testing supplies and we are currently not worried about keeping the (COVID infection) curve flat,” incident commander Craig Warren said at Wednesday’s Sitka Unified Command meeting.
“We do know people are continuing to get sick with COVID 19 but that hospitalizations are way down from when this started,” he said. “Taking all of that into account we are going to suspend the emergency operations center for the COVID-19 response.”
The decision means an end to regular meetings of the Unified Command, a group of city officials and representatives from SEARHC, Public Health, public schools and Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The group has met regularly during the pandemic, more often during a surge, less often when cases declined, providing updates to each other and with a report of the meeting released to the media and public.
“Don’t take that as ‘we’re not paying attention, we’re not going to keep watching and we’re not going to come back together if it’s needed,’” said Warren, who is the fire chief.
With the cross section of the community that’s part of the Unified Command, Warren said, “We pay attention to what is happening in the world, what the numbers are, what the new variants are, what the hospitalizations are now,” he said. “We’re watching all of this but we’re not necessarily operational right now ... We would come back together if the need arises but right now the city and borough of Sitka COVID emergency management team is going to be suspended.”
He added today that the end of the EOC and meetings does not mean the pandemic is over.
“The pandemic is not over; it’s not endemic yet,” he said. “The pandemic is by definition global, and this thing keeps changing.”
The city’s COVID information website will be taken down April 30 in a phased closure. After that data will be provided through the state Department of Health and Social Services or the CDC community levels website.
Local public information officers said they’re receiving fewer questions about the new risk levels and are now directing citizens to the new CDC and state websites for information.
Public health nurse Denise Ewing reported no definitive date regarding a fourth shot for COVID but said she’ll know after April 6.
Testing supplies and masks are available at the Public Health Clinic at 210 Moller Avenue between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at the Sitka Public Library.
“So not a shortage of supplies on our end of those,” Ewing said.
Trish White, Harry Race pharmacist, said the Friday vaccination clinics are continuing at Harry Race. She said masks and at-home test kits are available, and that most insurance companies are covering the cost of the home test kits.
Signup for a vaccination clinic can be made at sitkapharmacies.com and covid19.searhc.org.
Travis Miller, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, said tribal offices remain closed to the public, but appointments with staff can be made at (907) 747-3207. He said N95 masks and home test kits are in plentiful supply at STA and available for tribal citizens.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School Superintendent Janelle Vanasse said the transition to masks optional for the whole campus has been a success.
“We’ve had no or very little COVID on campus,” she said. She thanked the community and businesses for welcoming the kids back to town after the closed campus in effect the first part of the year.
“Management’s been really pleased to be part of the EOC,” she said. “We feel really confident that if we need to come back together we will do that. We just really have felt like a very important part of Sitka throughout this.”
School District Superintendent Frank Hauser said that since the shift to masks optional on March 1, only one positive case associated with schools has been reported.
“We will continue to offer rapid antigen testing in schools with assigned parental consent form,” he said. For those who wish to wear masks in school, N95s or similar quality masks are available, he said. He thanked the EOC members for their support of students, schools and the district.
Warren said today he believes the incident command system was successful, making decisions based on the best available information.
“A number of people said you shouldn’t have done this or shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “It’s easy to say that looking from the other side. We took our best guesses, and from the beginning the team worked hard to do what was right for Sitka, and in the best interest of the community.”
Warren concluded Wednesday’s meeting by encouraging the public to continue to observe precautions.
“We have an abundance of testing supplies, which is something I never thought I’d be able to say two years into a pandemic,” he said. “And if you’re sick, please stay home, please test, take an at-home test, and make sure you stay away from everybody else so you’re not getting them sick, just like you would with the common flu.”
City Administrator John Leach, who was the first incident commander, added a few thoughts today about the city’s response over the last two years:
“In the beginning of the pandemic I said I’d rather apologize to the community for doing too much, than apologizing for not doing enough. I’m extremely proud of the team in the EOC that stepped up to guide our community through such a tumultuous and uncertain time. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed and I stand by their decisions and guidance that was offered to our community over the past two years.
“We all did the very best we could with the information we had available at the time,” Leach said. “Oftentimes, hard decisions had to be made and it took guts to do that. I commend them all for a job very well done.”
