Statewide COVID-19 Communications: June 27 update for partners

Dear Community Partners:

Thank you for all your continued hard work, coordination and patience under difficult circumstances. We can't thank everyone enough for the ongoing efforts to keep Alaskans healthy, safe and informed about COVID-19. If you have questions or would like something included in the next update, email items to elizabeth.manning@alaska.gov or kathleen.griffith@alaska.gov with the subject: COVID-19 Week in Review.

Independence Day messaging 

Thank you to Laurel Hilts of Seldovia Village Tribe for leading a work group that discussed messaging about the upcoming July 4th holiday. Among their recommendations are having community leaders champion the importance of practicing individual health responsibility, explaining what events are happening in your community and what safeguards are in place, and reminding community members about protective measures they should take if participating in events. See below for some social media posts already being shared for more ideas:

Announcing limited number of festivities
Seldovia Village Tribe

Alaska resilience and wise decision making
Seldovia Village Tribe

Recognizing individual's varying levels of caution or concern 
Seldovia Village Tribe

PSA Examples

City of Homer Safe Social Gatherings for 4th of July  

This is Homer Councilmember Rachel Lord. Independence Day is a momentous holiday and traditionally celebrated with friends and family around the grill or with fires on the beach. This year, the way we get together will look differently. We can still celebrate, just in a COVID-safe way. Carefully consider your risks and gather cautiously. If anyone in your group is at high risk for serious illness from COVID-19, or they have people at home that are, then exercise all precautions! Keep it outside or in bigger spaces, limit time together, stay 6 feet apart from non-household members, wear a face mask and restrict physical contact to air hugs or waves. Try to keep your group limited to 2 to 6 people outside your social bubble; your bubble refers to those you live with or who are part of your trusted inner circle. And if you're feeling even mildly sick or a sudden onset of new symptoms, STAY HOME and call your health care provider or the South Peninsula Hospital at 235-0235 to get tested. Happy 4th of July everyone! Be COVID smart and together we can all have a safe holiday! 

Unified Command PSA

SUMMER IN ALASKA IS TIME FOR OUTDOOR RECREATING AND GATHERINGS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. DURING THESE GATHERINGS MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT SPREADING COVID-19.

WEAR A MASK

STAY OUTDOORS AND MAINTAIN SIX FEET OF DISTANCE

KEEP GATHERINGS SMALL

PROVIDE HAND SANITIZER AND GLOVES

COVER FOOD ITEMS AND DON’T TOUCH FOOD OTHERS WILL CONSUME

OPEN DOES NOT MEAN OVER. TOGETHER WE CAN STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN ALASKA.

Travel updates

Land and sea travelers

The State of Alaska requires travelers entering Alaska to follow specific quarantine and/or testing procedures identified in Health Mandate 10. COVID-19 screening and testing facilities have been established in 10 Alaska airports that receive out-of-state travelers. Those who arrive in Alaska by land or sea may not be greeted by COVID-19 screening and testing facilities like those established within Alaska’s airports, but these travelers are required to provide test result information and completed travel declaration forms in accordance with Health Mandate 10. The travel declaration form and other Mandate 10 information can be found on covid19.alaska.gov/travelers/ and covid19.alaska.gov/faq/. More details about can be read in the State of Alaska Unified Command's June 20 press release.

Alaska Marine Highway System

Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities also announced new protocols on Alaska Marine Highway System vessels to minimize transmission of COVID-19. They announced the protocols in their June 21 press release and issued a second press release on June 24 to further clarify testing requirements for short duration voyages.

More travel information is available at:

• DHSS: Health guidance for Alaska travelers
• State of Alaska: COVID-19 Traveler information
  • Health Mandate 10: International & Interstate Travel
• Alaska Travel Industry Association: COVID-19 Travel Information

Traveling Workers

A new webpage is now available to help explain what is expected of workers who are traveling into Alaska or to smaller communities within Alaska off the highway or Alaska Marine Highway systems. The webpage explains who needs to submit a Community/Workplace Protective Plan (CWPP) to the State of Alaska for review. It also explains quarantine and/or testing requirements for the following groups: seafood processing workers, commercial fishing vessel crew members, independent commercial fishing harvesters, fishing charter operations and lodges, all other critical infrastructure businesses and government employees. Finally, the webpage covers important testing information for workers arriving into Anchorage. Employers are strongly encouraged to provide a letter to their employees in their native language indicating their status as a critical infrastructure worker along with instructions detailing protective measures they must take in transit, including whether they are to be tested at the airport and where they should report after clearing the screening station. 

All health mandates

The health mandates page on the covid19.alaska.gov website has been substantially changed recently, but the full mandates currently in effect - including supporting documents - are still available at alaska.gov/health-mandates/. Questions about COVID-19 and the health mandates can be sent to covidquestions@alaska.gov.

Case count summary: reporting data for June 15 - 24

Alaska cases: 152
Communities involved: Anchorage, Bethel, Bethel Census Area, Big Lake, Bristol Bay Borough, Chugiak, City of Kenai, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Haines, Homer, combined Hoonah-Angoon Census Area and Yakutat Borough, Juneau, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Nome, North Pole, North Slope Borough, Northern Kenai Peninsula Borough, Palmer, Seward, Sitka, Soldotna, Southern Kenai Peninsula Borough, Valdez, Wasilla, Wrangell and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.
Cases of note: Ketchikan traveler case who didn't quarantine, first cases on Fort Wainwright
Total cases as of June 24:  816

Nonresident cases: 83
Communities involved: Municipality of Anchorage, combined Bristol Bay and Lake & Peninsula boroughs, Dillingham Census Area, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Haines Borough, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, Nome Census Area, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area.
Cases of note: Twelve cases of seafood workers in Dillingham
Total cases as of June 24: 157

Hospitalizations: 12
Total as of June 24: 65

Deaths: 0
Total as of June 24: 12

Recovered cases: 90
Total as of June 24: 513

Total active cases as of June 24: 284

Total tests completed as of June 24: 99,452
Percent positive as of June 24: 0.69%

Data hub is available at coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com

• The Alaska State Virology Laboratory in Fairbanks will be open July 3 and 4 but closed on Sunday, July 5. The Anchorage State Public Health Laboratory will be open on July 5. 
• Nonresident cases data table: coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/covid-cases-out-of-state/data

Please note: These summaries may differ from the data dashboard as dates, residences and other data points for the cases are adjusted over time based on interviews conducted during contact tracing. The information above is compiled from DHSS’ daily case count press releases.

Changes to DHSS communications about cases

Case count press release changes

• Case count press releases will be moving to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule beginning June 29.
• Case count press releases now include the total number of resident and nonresident cases in the headline and report the average three-day testing positivity rate. 

Summary of daily cases on data dashboard

The data dashboard will still be updated daily. A daily summary of cases, similar to what is provided in the daily DHSS case count press release now, will be posted daily on DHSS Facebook and Twitter. 

New Alaska Weekly Case Update

A new weekly data summary describing cases from the past week written by the DHSS Section of Epidemiology. Subscribe to the "DHSS Alerts" list here public.govdelivery.com/accounts/AKDHSS/subscriber/new?topic_id=AKDHSS_157

Read the first summary for June 13 - 19 at content.govdelivery.com/accounts/AKDHSS/bulletins/2921f83.

Press conferences 

No scheduled press conferences are planned but will be held when new or important information needs to be shared. A weekly online COVID-19 Science ECHO for the general public is being held with DHSS Public Health leadership every Wednesday at 12- 1 p.m. and is available through a Facebook live event for anyone to watch. Questions may be submitted online at bit.ly/COVID-19_Science_Questions. 

COVID-19 Business Toolkit

Alaska businesses now have access to a newly-released suite of printable resources to help encourage COVID-19 precautions among employees and customers. Covid Conscious features fun Alaska artwork to communicate and encourage measures such as physical distancing and mask wearing. The messages cater to a variety of policies businesses have for employees and customers.

Covid Conscious materials are adapted from a campaign developed by Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks. The State of Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services and Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development and several partner organizations collaborated to build upon the resources with fun Alaska design themes featuring illustrations by DHSS employee Ellen Grover. 

DHSS and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development announced the new toolkit in a press release on June 25.

View and download the materials at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/COVID-19/business.aspx. Materials are in the process of being translated into other languages and will be added to that page when complete.

CDC news 

The CDC held a media telebriefing on Thursday, June 25, and also on Friday, June 12. 

CDC updates, expands list of people at risk of severe COVID-19 illness, June 25, 2020
Based on a detailed review of available evidence to date, CDC has updated and expanded the list of who is at increased risk for getting severely ill from COVID-19.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Surveillance — United States, January 22–May 30, 2020
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), June 19, 2020
Hospitalizations were six times higher and deaths 12 times higher for COVID-19 patients with reported underlying conditions

Evaluation and Management Considerations for Neonates At Risk for COVID-19
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/caring-for-newborns.html
To inform healthcare providers about the diagnosis, evaluation, infection prevention and control practices, and disposition of neonates (≤28 days old) with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or known COVID-19 exposure, including birth to a mother with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

Information for Pediatric Healthcare Providers
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html
To inform pediatric healthcare providers of information available on children with COVID-19.

Considerations for Inpatient Obstetric Healthcare Settings
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/inpatient-obstetric-healthcare-guidance.html
For healthcare facilities providing obstetric care for pregnant patients with suspected1 or confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in inpatient obstetric healthcare settings including obstetrical triage, labor and delivery, recovery and inpatient postpartum settings.

Care for Breastfeeding Women
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/care-for-breastfeeding-women.html
Interim Guidance on Breastfeeding and Breast Milk Feeds in the Context of COVID-19

Contact tracing and case notification

Contract tracing

Contact tracing is done when a person tests positive for COVID-19. Contact tracing is a time-tested public health tool that effectively prevents the spread of contagious diseases. DHSS and its community partners have been using contact tracing for other types of infectious illnesses such as tuberculosis for quite some time. Every contact tracing investigation for a positive COVID-19 case is different, but they all start with contacting the patient who tested positive.

Explaining contact tracing to people in our communities is important so they understand the process and know when to take action after reports of new cases in their area.

A new webpage is now available on the DHSS COVID-19 website that explains contact tracing and how it works in Alaska at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/contacttracing.aspx

The CDC also has new contact tracing materials available on its website. 

Use wording from the sample social media post below to customize a message for your community or share the post from DHSS' Facebook page. 

Sample social media post
With cases on the rise in communities across Alaska, some people are wondering what to do if they think they’ve been exposed to a known positive COVID-19 case but haven’t been notified by a public health official. Please know that you will receive a call from a public health nurse or another public health official if you have been identified by the patient as a “close contact,” meaning you have been within 6 feet of the infected individual for 10-15 minutes or longer or you’ve been coughed or sneezed on by that person.

However, if you are fairly certain you have been exposed to the virus or to someone who is waiting for test results and haven’t received a call, please consider voluntarily hunkering down out of an abundance of caution, if you are able to do so. DHSS encourages caution for anyone in this situation. Please consider self-quarantining for the next 14 days, make sure you stay at least 6 feet from others, wear a cloth face covering if you do go out and monitor for symptoms. Even if you experience very mild symptoms, isolate yourself, call a provider and get tested. These actions will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your community and will help protect others, especially those at risk for severe illness. These are difficult times for everyone, so please stay safe and be kind. We’re all in this together.

Case notification process

A companion webpage has also been added that describes the notification process of new COVID-19 cases for patients, close contact, health care providers, response partners, and the Alaska Division of Public Health. The page also includes information about disclosing protected health information. 

Visit the case notification webpage at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/pages/COVID-19/notification.aspx

Alaska ECHO Projects 

These virtual learning communities provide educators, service providers, case managers, administrators, families and others access to expert advice on a variety of health topics. Under the direction of Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink and the Public Health leadership team, UAA Center for Human Development Project ECHO is developing multiple distinct ECHOs in response to the current health crisis. Learn more about Alaska ECHO projects at UAA.

COVID-19 Science ECHO - for the general public
Every Wednesday, 12-1 p.m.
Click to register for COVID-19 Science ECHO

Alaska COVID-19 ECHO - for all Alaska medical providers
Every other Tuesday, 7-8 p.m. (Next ECHO will be 7.6.20)
Click to register for Alaska COVID-19 ECHO

Health Care Specific COVID-19 - Situational awareness
Thursdays, 12-1 p.m.
Click to register for Healthcare Specific COVID-19 Situational Awareness ECHO

EMS ECHO
Fridays, 10-11 a.m.
Click to register for the EMS ECHO

Palliative Care in COVID-19 ECHO
Wednesdays, 12-1 p.m.
Click to register for the Palliative Care in COVID-19 ECHO

Perinatal ECHO
Every other Thursday, 7-8 p.m. (next ECHO will be 7.2.20)
Click to register for the Perinatal ECHO

Dental ECHO
Every other Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. (next ECHO will be 7.1.20)
Click to register for the Dental ECHO

Large Gatherings and Community Events ECHO
Mondays, 2-3 p.m.
Join the Large Gatherings and Community Events ECHO

Tribal health partners might also like this ECHO series:

Indian Country COVID-19 TeleECHO Program
www.indiancountryecho.org/program/covid-19/

A personal perspective on COVID-19 testing

DHSS' own public health specialist, Ann Potempa, recently underwent testing for COVID-19 along with her 13-year old son. Potempa is the coordinator for the Play Every Day campaign so she shared her personal experience with testing through the Play Every Day blog. She also provided important information about why testing turnaround times can vary so much, differences between rapid and non-rapid tests and what DHSS has been doing to improve Alaska's lab capacity. 

Read the full blog post, COVID-19 test results can take time. Here’s why. at http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/PlayEveryDay/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=469

Enjoy your Alaska summer, but play sports or watch games in ways that prevent spreading COVID-19

Alaskans are out to play during long days that end in midnight sun. Softball fields are packed. The trails are teeming with bikers and walkers. Kids are back to playing full-contact soccer games, and parents are lined up on the sidelines to watch.

These activities are taking place in Alaska communities while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Cases have been rising day after day since the end of May. Alaska now has more current cases than it did early in the outbreak when we first hunkered down. That means we all need to keep doing what we can to prevent the spread of illness while being active — especially when our activities involve groups of people.

Read the full blog post by the Play Every Day program at: dhss.alaska.gov/dph/PlayEveryDay/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=468

Funding for child care providers and businesses expanded

Additional funding available for child care providers through Alaska’s CARES funding

DHSS announced on June 18 that additional funding for child care providers will be available through the State of Alaska's CARES funding. The Child Care Program Office (CCPO) received an additional $10.5 million to be distributed to Alaska’s child care providers to offset revenue lost during April and May for the care of children who are not eligible for child care
assistance. This funding is for April and May combined. Read the press release for more information: dhss.alaska.gov/News/Documents/press/2020/DHSS_PressRelease_CCPOFunding_20200618.pdf

CARES Act funding for Alaska businesses expanded

On June 17, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) announced changes to the AK CARES Grant program's eligibility criteria to provide additional financial assistance to Alaska businesses. Small Alaska businesses that received $5,000 or less in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds and 501(c)(6) nonprofit organizations will become eligible for the State’s grant program; as long as they were based, licensed, and located in Alaska when the public health disaster emergency was declared on March 11, 2020 and have 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. More information and details about the program can be found on the DCCED website at www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/ded/AKCARESGrant.aspx.

Collaborative communication projects

Collaborative video: DHSS is beginning to work on one or more collaborative videos and is hoping partners will contribute footage of Alaskans across the state practicing protective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our goal with these videos is to encourage resilience, support and empathy across Alaska's diverse communities during these difficult times - we're all in this together! Our DHSS visual information specialist, Scott Favorite, has offered to compile the footage into one or more videos. Please send video clips to him at scott.favorite@alaska.gov. If the file is too large to email, email Scott and he can help you figure out a way for you to transfer the footage. Feel free to be creative, use humor and share any video footage you think would be helpful, including scenic shots of your community.

Basically, here is what we are looking for: 

• Examples of social distancing, staying six feet apart from non-household members. 
• Alaskans wearing cloth face coverings
• Washing hands (including using hand sanitizer or wash basins in areas without running water)
• Creative ways of saying hello (air hugs, air high fives, air fist bumps, curtsies, bows, nods, foot taps, etc) 
• Alaskans helping each other, safely and from a distance
• Getting tested for COVID-19
• Staying home when sick (don't film someone who is actually sick, of course) 
• Minimizing and keeping track of contacts (i.e. keeping track of names on a calendar or tracking sheet). 

Please make sure you obtain the necessary photo releases needed by your own organization, and if you can, please also fill out the attached DHSS media release and email it with the footage. The DHSS media release form is attached. 

Pandemic stories: DHSS has started to do short oral histories of everyday Alaskans asking three basic questions: 

• How has COVID-19 changed your life - for better or for worse - and how are you adapting? 
• What changes might remain over the long term? 
• What are your hopes for the future? 

We welcome the participation of partner communicators interested in joining in this project. A few of us met last week and will likely meet again. We are working on a short explanation letting others know how they can participate. Please email elizabeth.manning@alaska.gov to learn more and to participate in the next meeting. We also plan to archive a collection of these on the DHSS webpage. 

Other communication resources

COVID-19 - Simple Answers to Top Questions: This Risk Communication Field Guide with Questions and Key Messages from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has answers to 60+ top questions about COVID-19 answered with detailed message maps. These message maps distill information into a series of layered messages, from basic to more complex. Download the PDF at www.astho.org/COVID-19/Q-and-A/.

Circle of Support addendum and translations: Reminder that for families with symptoms and families with positives, the Circle of Support document developed by DHSS provides helpful guidance on in-home isolation and planning. An addendum is also now available that includes planning for families with children with disabilities and special medical needs. The document, translated versions and the addendum can be found online at dhss.alaska.gov/ocs/Pages/COVID/families.aspx

Website updates

Testing webpage: In addition to the new contact tracing webpage noted above, the existing testing page on the DHSS COVID-19 website has been updated to reinforce the message that anyone with any of the broad range of symptoms of COVID-19 should get tested as soon as possible. Other questions addressed on the page include: 

• Who else can get tested
• Where to get tested
• Steps to take after being tested
• What to do once results are returned, including if they're positive results
• Kinds of tests done in Alaska
• How common are false positives and false negatives

We are constantly updating the website, particularly our guidance section. If there's something you think we should post or information you are seeking but not finding, please feel free to email julie.sanbei@alaska.gov and/or elizabeth.manning@alaska.gov. 

Visit the DHSS COVID-19 website at: dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/

Bookmark handy online DHSS resources

Check these pages and social media accounts for recent updates, as well as messages and graphics you can share with your communities:

• Press releases, including the daily case count press releases
• Facebook page
• Twitter account
• Instagram account

 

Thank you and have a great week! 
- DHSS Public Information Team