Insightful, poignant, and good-natured, Sitka Silver Linings is a community project supported by the Sitka Legacy Foundation, Sitka Counseling & Prevention Services, and White’s Inc..

The Alaska Division of Health reported 20 covid cases in Sitka over the last seven days. The threshold for moving from low to medium, and vice versa, is 17 cases in a week.

If anyone is hospitalized in Sitka for Covid, the alert level would shift to “high.”

The primary recommendation for reducing the serious health risks associated with Covid-19 disease is to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, and if you’re vaccinated, to get boosted. On August 31, the US Food & Drug Administration amended the “emergency use authorizations” of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to include updated boosters. Known as “bivalent” vaccines, the shots work against the original strain of Covid, as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the Omicron variant.

The updated Moderna vaccine will be available for anyone 18 and over; the updated Pfizer vaccine will be available for those age 12 and over.

Health authorities anticipate that Covid vaccines may eventually be administered once a year, much like the influenza vaccine.

The Alaska Division of Health is expected to begin distributing the updated vaccines to providers around the state in the near future.

The US Centers for Disease Control lowered the alert based on data from the state, showing only 12 reported cases of Covid in the community in the last week.

For a town of Sitka’s size, the threshold for moving up to “medium” alert is 17 or more cases in a week. To go to “high” alert, someone must be hospitalized for covid.

Sitka joins much of the rest of the state in shifting to low alert. The Alaska Division of Health reports just over 1,700 cases of Covid statewide in the past week, but no new hospitalizations. That’s down from six the previous week. However, there are still 80 patients hospitalized in Alaska for the virus.

The CDC guidelines for managing Covid are similar in “low” alert to what they were in “medium.” At the top of the list is being up-to-date with Covid vaccines and boosters, keeping spaces well-ventilated, and staying in touch with your healthcare provider if you are at high risk for becoming very sick. Masks can be worn by anyone at any time, especially in indoor public transportation settings, and as required by state and local authorities.

The Alaska Department of Health reported the new casualty in its weekly COVID summary published on Wednesday (8-10-22). The Sitka resident in his seventies died in May– his death was one of 21 included in the statewide report, spanning from February to July of this year.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the state has reported seven deaths associated with the virus in Sitka and 29 hospitalizations. 

This week, the state reported 51 new coronavirus cases in Sitka, up slightly from the week before. The community’s COVID level remains high, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Cities around the country have been pushed into high alert in the last few weeks, as the highly transmissible BA.5 omicron subvariant becomes the dominant strain of the virus throughout the United States.

The community’s drop to “medium” means that no Sitkans are currently hospitalized with the virus, but KCAW has still been unable to confirm exactly how many, if any, Sitkans were hospitalized with the coronavirus in the three weeks the community was experiencing a “high” level. COVID levels weigh hospitalizations more heavily than cases, and that’s reflected in the numbers this week. Even though the city’s COVID level has shifted down, Sitka’s weekly case count has crept up, with 40 cases reported from Tuesday to Tuesday. 

Since the start of the pandemic the Alaska Department of Health has reported 2999 coronavirus cases in Sitka. 

The new cases were reported between June 8 and June 14. For the last month, the community’s case rate has been hovering around the mid-twenties most weeks. 

Today/on Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Sitka’s community COVID rate remained at “medium” meaning no new hospitalizations had been reported. 

Since the pandemic began nearly two and a half years ago, Sitka has reported 2872 coronavirus cases, 29 hospitalizations and 6 deaths. 

Over the last two and a half years, the community has reported 2844 coronavirus cases, 29 hospitalizations and six deaths.

On Thursday (5-19-22) the Centers for Disease Control reported that Sitka’s community alert level remains at “medium” meaning no one has been hospitalized for the virus in the last week. Sitka’s community alert level will shift to “low” if hospitalizations remain at zero and the community case rate continues to fall. 

This week the CDC updated its vaccine recommendations – it’s now recommending Pfizer boosters for children age 5-11, five months after their initial series. It’s also recommending that immunocompromised individuals 12 and up, and all adults 50 and older get an additional booster shot four months after their first booster.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday (5-17-22) authorized a third COVID shot for children ages 5-11 who’ve already gotten their first two. The US Centers for Disease Control is expected to update its recommendations later this week.

The availability of the booster for children is welcome news for Alaska’s public health officials who are trying to stem the tide of new cases in the state, which are rising at about 6-percent per week. About 41 Alaskans remain hospitalized with COVID-19, four of them on ventilators.

During a statewide teleconference last week (5-11-22), officials in the state Department of Health answered questions about the ongoing effort to vaccinate residents, and the role of home testing, now that rapid antigen tests are widely available over-the-counter.

Note: The US government is distributing a third round of free home test kits for COVID-19, beginning immediately. Eight kits will be mailed in this round. Sign up for delivery with the US Postal Service.

Healthcare providers hear this all the time: I feel sick, but my rapid test is negative. That’s because rapid tests sometimes don’t show a positive result in the early stages of the illness. State pharmacist Dr. Coleman Cutchins says to err on the side of caution, when interpreting the results of over-the-counter, or OTC, tests.

“If you have symptoms and think you have COVID, and you test negative, reach out to your health care provider, or consider getting a molecular test (aka PCR test or lab test) or repeating one of those at-home OTC tests every couple of days, as long as you have symptoms,” Cutchins said.

Cutchins said that recent data published by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that rapid home tests were most reliable well after the onset of symptoms, and that molecular tests – or PCR tests done by health providers – could detect the virus even before patients developed symptoms.

Prompt confirmation can be important in the treatment of patients who are most at-risk of developing severe illness, says the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink.

“Particularly if you’re at-risk, and treatment would be something you would consider and you have an at-home antigen test that is negative, but you’re not feeling well,” said Zink, “getting that PCR, that molecular test, earlier can help to identify it earlier, so we can get you started on treatment earlier.”

Zink was pleased to report that 600 people a week were stepping up for their first vaccines in Alaska, as vaccination remains the number one weapon against the virus. But does the adaptability of the current Omicron variant suggest that boosters might be part of the fight indefinitely? Dr. Jeffrey Demain, an immunologist at Providence Hospital, doesn’t think so.

“I think in the fall we’re going to see a vaccine that is going to be somewhat different than what we’ve seen thus far,” said Demain. “It’ll be probably looking at more multiple aspects of attacking the virus, or stimulating the immune system response to the virus, rather than a single response. So I think as we go, we’re going to have new iterations. And I anticipate that we’re going to eventually get to a point where it’s going to be like our annual flu shot.”

Demain said that “we’re sort of playing catch-up a bit,” but regardless of your age, there’s no point in over-boosting. “You only want to get the shots that are recommended for you and your age group and your certain circumstances.”

Earlier this week, the CDC updated its travel guidance, recommending that everyone two years or older continue to wear properly fitting masks in areas of public transportation, like planes, trains, and buses. But the federal government is no longer requiring masks on public transit, as a result of a court order issued on April 18.