By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, and school mitigation efforts, were front and center at the Unified Command meeting on Wednesday.
The city Emergency Operations Center members and other community leaders gave brief updates at the meeting. The group meets once every three weeks.
Although two new cases were added to the dashboard for Thursday, Sitka hit its lowest case rate since early July with a 129.06 reading. The case rate is from 11 cases in the past seven days, adjusted for 100,000 population.
That’s down from the figure a week ago of 222.93 for October 7; and 410.65 for the 35 weekly cases on September 30.
Not counting the figures added from today’s clinics, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services lists 6,209 in Sitka as partially vaccinated (84.08 percent); and 5,859 as fully vaccinated (79.34 percent). The percentages are based on the age 12 and up population of 7,385.
City EOC Incident Commander Craig Warren discussed some of the challenges in automating the city dashboard, using the state COVID site to update the number of cases and other information. He said the vaccination reporting on the system was built to account for a first and second dose but the third-dose shots and booster shots were affecting the figures. He said the state was trying to fix it.
Shoshauna Schmidt reported for SEARHC that the consortium on Wednesday had 1 COVID-positive patient at the hospital.
She said SEARHC has given 900 third or booster shots for COVID, since they were approved in September, and more than 1,200 flu shots in Sitka.
She announced combined clinics for COVID and flu shots, with the next one taking place 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. October 19 and 20 at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
“We’ll continue these through the fall and winter,” Schmidt said. The consortium is waiting for news on the approval for a J&J booster, and for pediatric vaccines, expected by early November, she said.
On a question about “cross vaccinating” – getting a third dose or booster with a different vaccine brand – she said the current recommendation is to continue with the same vaccine brand.
In other vaccine-related updates, Harry Race pharmacist Trish White said clinics are scheduled for seasonal flu and COVID shots on Fridays, including a high-dose flu shot for age 65 and older.
She estimated the pharmacy has administered 300 to 350 third doses or booster shots. She said the pharmacy is waiting for word from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Center for Disease Control about booster doses for Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, and authorization for vaccines for children.
The link for vaccine signups are sitkapharmacies.com for Harry Race, and registration is covid19.searhc.org for SEARHC.
In the reports from schools, Janelle Vanasse, Mt. Edgecumbe High School superintendent, reported one active case on campus at this time.
She also talked about the cooperation among Region V schools in their mitigation efforts, which also includes testing for schools coming from outside the region.
“A school from outside the region was coming to play and they discovered positive cases, which allowed them to take care of that and limit the spread,” Vanasse said. “I really appreciate Region V’s collaboration and our common messaging ... It’s going to make a big difference for our teams and others in the region, to continue sports for kids.”
Sitka School District Superintendent Frank Hauser said the district as of Wednesday had four active cases associated with school district buildings.
“That represents less than 0.4 percent of our total student population, so obviously that’s a very small percentage,” he said. He said the mitigation plan the district follows appears to be limiting the spread of the virus. He reminded parents to keep students home when sick, and if anyone in the family or close contact group has COVID or COVID-like symptoms.
“Data shows we’re starting school with more COVID in our community than other regions,” Hauser said. “But we’ve had significantly less COVID and COVID-related disruptions in our schools. And that’s not an accident. That’s because of our mitigations, most importantly it’s because we’ve all been working together – SSD, the community, parents and students – to implement the mitigations that are keeping students in school and keeping our schools open.”
He said cases appear to be on the decline in the community.
“We hope this downward trend continues and our mitigations will shift accordingly,” Hauser said. “We’re miles ahead of where we were just last year, when students were learning remotely.”
Feedback has been positive from a high school counselor, who told him students are happy to be back to in-person learning, Hauser said, “even if that day includes masks and additional mitigations just for the time being.”
“We have a plan in place that’s working, our schools are in person, and we’re going to keep moving steadily forward,” he said.
From the state public health nurse’s office, Grace Roller reported the current number of cases is Sitka in the red, or high alert level. She stated the Division of Public Health is investigating cases as they come in.
“The schools are doing a great job with their mitigation strategies, all the schools are,” she said. “I’ve been pretty impressed with how well contained things have been.”
She said her office is preparing for flu vaccinations with a lot of calls, although they haven’t received their flu vaccines yet.
She said there’s been some excitement for the expected approval for vaccination for children, hopefully in November.
For the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, offices remain closed to the public, and staff is tested every two weeks.
