Health

A positive case of COVID-19 in Mountain Village has a school district and a contracting company rethinking their coronavirus policies. The school district and the employer of the individual who tested positive have revealed that workers did not get tested for coronavirus before arriving in the village, and that they interacted with the community in their first few days there.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation has announced more than a dozen cases of COVID-19 related to the region. As case counts rise, agencies and individuals continue to look for ways to keep our communities safe. Ana Hoffman is the co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives and a Bethel community member. She has been listening to people’s questions, and presented them to Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, and to YKHC Chief of Staff Dr. Ellen Hodges for a discussion to air on KYUK.

On June 25, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation announced that there was likely "community spread" of COVID-19 in Napaskiak. The announcement came after two people who were in the village tested positive for COVID-19. The next week, Napaskiak officials issued a press release saying that the village has since experienced “humiliation, discrimination, and feeling victimized.”

The City of Bethel has upgraded its response to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region. Over the past month, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation announced ten cases of the coronavirus. In an effort to prevent further spread of the virus in the region, Bethel is offering a free quarantine option to individuals who arrive from Anchorage.