A small, overcrowded house with a resident that has COVID-19 may sound like a hopeless situation, but that’s not necessarily so. Dan Winkelman, President and CEO of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, said that he knows of a few families faced with a situation in which one of them had the disease, and the family kept it from spreading to others in their home.
“They were able to isolate them in one room. Everyone else had masks on when they shared the bathroom, and cleaned the bathroom after that person had exited. And they were able to not get sick,” Winkelman said.
Winkelman admits that this scenario is not the norm. Instead, overcrowded homes with limited facilities, which are typical in most villages, coupled with people who are not able to take these precautions, usually spread COVID-19 to others in the home as well as to the community.