Greg Kim

Two candidates have filed for the District 38 seat in the Alaska House of Representatives: incumbent Tiffany Zulkosky, and challenger Willy Keppel. Zulkosky, a Democrat, will be running in the primary. Keppel, from the Veteran’s Party, will need to gather signatures to appear in the general election.

The Orutsararmiut Native Council received over $13.8 million in CARES Act funding. Executive Director Mark Springer discusses how the organization plans to spend that money and what else ONC is doing to prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The village of Napaskiak is now on lockdown after a resident received a positive coronavirus test result on June 15. Further down the coast, the village of Quinhagak relaxed some of its travel restrictions after one of its residents tested positive on June 12.

Over the past week, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation announced that two residents of Y-K Delta villages had tested positive for the coronavirus. On June 12, Quinhagak received the news that a second resident had tested positive. Two weeks earlier, the village dealt with its first case of coronavirus, which YKHC later said was likely a false positive. On June 15, a Napaskiak resident tested positive and then negative for the coronavirus in consecutive tests on the same day. Both communities are reacting to sometimes inconsistent test results.

After two individuals in Bethel were notified of positive coronavirus test results on consecutive days, the city is wondering if there are more undetected cases in Bethel. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation reports that less than 60% of passengers who arrive at Bethel’s airport are volunteering for testing. The city has plans to try to increase that number to 100%.