Health

The FDA authorized booster shots for five-to-11-year-olds last week. The expansion makes children in this age group eligible for a third Pfizer-BioNTech shot five months after receiving their first two shots.

"Getting vaccinated while you're pregnant or breastfeeding really offers good protection to those babies and prevents those respiratory infections that we know are so critical to avoid in that first year of life," said Dr. Ellen Hodges.

There aren’t enough public health care workers in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Organizations large and small are struggling to hire providers.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is dispatching health teams to multiple villages in the Y-K Delta this month to test school-age kids for tuberculosis. Case counts are trending above average this year.

On April 22, YKHC reported that Alakanuk, Bethel, Emmonak, Grayling, Kwigillingok, Nightmute, Nunapitchuk, Toksook Bay, and Tuntutuliak are experiencing widespread community transmission.

Anne Anttila Komulainen has worked as a Physician Assistant at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation for nearly 15 years. During her tenure, she’s served as the primary care provider for the communities of Kipnuk, Marshall, and Napakiak.

For the past two weeks, Covid cases across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have risen slightly. The epicenter of transmission is in Bethel, where cases have nearly doubled over the past week.

For two years, the airline required passengers to wear masks while in flight.

Starting April 18, the Lower Kuskokwim School District will start requiring students and staff in Bethel and Nunapitchuk to wear masks. That’s because the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation has added these communities to the list of places experiencing high rates of COVID-19 transmission.

Starting Monday, April 18, only Rapid Binax COVID-19 tests will be available on the first floor every weekday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PCR tests will be available only by appointment between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays.