Coronavirus outbreaks in Alaska, flooding state hospitals

Alaska, once a leader in vaccinating its citizens, is now in the throes of its worst coronavirus wave of the pandemic, as the Delta variant tears the state apart, inundating hospitals with patients.

As of Thursday, the state averaged 125 new cases per day per 100,000 people, more than any other in the country, according to recent trends in data collected by The New York Times. This figure has increased by 46% in the last two weeks and more than twenty times since the beginning of July.

On Wednesday, the state said it had activated “crisis care standards,” giving hospitals legal protections for triage decisions that require them to give some patients substandard care. The state also announced an $ 87 million contract to recruit hundreds of temporary healthcare workers.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, said even though hospitals were overcrowded, he saw no need to implement restrictions to curb transmission. Still, he encouraged people who had not yet received a vaccine to seriously consider it.

“We have the tools at our disposal so that individuals can take care of themselves,” said Dunleavy. While the state dominated the country in immunization earlier this year, it has fallen behind in recent months, with half of its population fully vaccinated, compared to 55% nationally, data shows federal.

Jared Kosin, the head of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, called the surge “crippling” in an interview Tuesday. He added that hospitals were full and healthcare workers were emotionally exhausted. Patients have recently been forced to wait in their cars for treatment outside overwhelmed emergency rooms.

There is growing anxiety in outlying communities that depend on the transfer of critically ill patients to Anchorage hospitals, Kosin said. Transfers are increasingly difficult to organize and are often delayed, he said.

“We are all wondering where this is going and if this transfer will be available even tomorrow,” Kosin said.

Critically ill people in rural areas, where many Alaskan natives reside, often have to be airlifted to a hospital that can provide them with the care they need, said Dr. Philippe Amstislavski, associate professor of public health at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

“Unlike the lower 48, you don’t have this ability to move people quickly, due to the distances and remoteness,” said Dr. Amstislavski, former public health official for the Interior Alaska Region. , focusing on rural areas and mainly Alaska Native Communities.

Mr Kosin said if hospitalizations increase much more, hospitals and clinics across the state may be forced to apply more extreme crisis care standards and triage decisions. “This is the worst case we could be heading for,” he said.

Alaska natives, who have historically suffered from health disparities in the state, are struggling disproportionately during the latest wave of the virus, Dr Amstislavski said.

Alaskan Chief Medical Officer Dr Anne Zink said several factors may be contributing to the outbreak, including summer tourists who bring and spread the virus.

“We hope that as the snow falls and we have fewer visitors these numbers will stabilize,” Dr Zink said in an interview on Tuesday evening.

On the flip side, she noted that cool weather pushes residents indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.

The state’s Canadian neighbors to the east, Yukon and British Columbia, have not experienced such severe outbreaks, Dr Amstislavski said, possibly due to stricter travel restrictions in this country. countries and health system less strained.