Yakutat joins a growing list of Southeast towns to declare local emergencies. (Yakutat Tlingit Tribe/Screenshot)

More Southeast communities are rolling out emergency declarations this week.

The Yakutat borough assembly declared a local emergency Thursday night [3-19-20] in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like similar declarations made in Sitka and Angoon, the move allows the town to seek state and federal emergency aid. 

The Yakutat Tlingit Tribe the previous evening (3-17-20) declared a state of emergency of its own. As part of that measure, Tribal offices will be closed through March 30th. 

The Yakutat Community Health Center, which is run by the Tribe, is also limiting on-site staff to those deemed “essential” and cancelling all on-site clinics for the rest of the month. 

While the number of confirmed cases in Alaska has ticked up slowly over the past week, none have yet been reported in Yakutat.