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YKHC Announces Fourth Positive Case Of Coronavirus In One Week

Katie Basile/KYUK

On June 15, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation confirmed another positive case of coronavirus in Bethel. The individual, who resides in a Y-K Delta village, was in Bethel when they were tested, and is currently self-isolating in the hub community. YKHC would not say which village the person is from in order to protect the patient’s privacy. 

The individual was tested three times on June 15. After rapid testing returned an initial positive result, YKHC used its in-house lab analyzer to test a second time, which came back negative. YKHC says that the second, negative result does not mean that the person was free of the virus. It only means that the sample did not meet the level required for the second test to detect the virus. YKHC conducted a third test that will be processed by the state Public Health lab. Results will be returned in five to seven days. 

YKHC said that it is in the process of conducting contact tracing, and would send a rapid response team to the patient’s village on June 15 to conduct widespread testing.

This marks the seventh case that YKHC has announced to date, and the fourth over the past week. The first case in the Y-K Delta was confirmed in Bethel two months ago. Then, a Nunapitchuk resident tested positive; YKHC said that person was likely at the tail end of their infection. The third case was a Quinhagak resident that YKHC said was likely a false positive. Over the past week, two non-residents traveled into Bethel and received positive test results, and on June 12, a Y-K Delta village resident tested positive while in Anchorage.

On May 22, the state of Alaska opened up businesses fully, and rolled back most of the health mandates aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19. Over the past week, the number of COVID-19 cases among Alaskans grew by 101 to 664 total cases to date. According to modeling the state is using, Alaska currently has the fifth-highest rate of transmission for coronavirus in the nation. 

YKHC’s press release says that although the state has eased restrictions on travel and reopened Alaska’s economy, “the pandemic and the public health risks it poses [are] not over.” YKHC urges the public to continue to avoid non-essential travel, practice handwashing and social distancing, wear a mask in public, and frequently disinfect high-touch surfaces in your home.

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 see a medical provider, but instead to call their village clinic or the Bethel hospital at 907-543-6949.

 

Greg Kim was a news reporter for KYUK from 2019-2022.