A person who traveled into Bethel has tested positive for coronavirus. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation received the positive result from Anchorage on June 10. In a press release, YKHC said that the person tested for coronavirus in Anchorage before flying to Bethel. YKHC received the positive result after the person had already arrived in the community.
By the afternoon of June 10, YKHC said that it had contacted all close contacts of the individual, offering testing and providing instructions to self-isolate for 14 days.
YKHC said that the person who tested positive is not a Bethel resident. The person told YKHC that they wore a mask on the flight to Bethel, when in public, and chose to get tested again for the virus at the Bethel airport. This second test occurred at a later date from the first test, and YKHC has yet to receive the result from this second test.
YKHC called the person’s actions “a model we encourage the public to follow.” YKHC also encourages the public to frequently wash their hands, physically distance from anyone not in their same household, and disinfect regularly touched surfaces in their home.
YKHC urges all incoming travelers to get tested for the virus for free outside the Bethel Alaska Airlines terminal. There is no evidence of community spread of the coronavirus in Bethel, which means that the virus can only enter the community through incoming travelers. About 25% to 60% of travelers are choosing to get tested.
Symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, and a diminished sense of taste or smell. Anyone with these symptoms is asked to not go to the Bethel hospital or village clinic, but instead to call their village clinic or the Bethel hospital at 543-6949.
