The rising COVID-19 cases across Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula, due to the delta variant, is cause for concern by some asking if restrictions like masking up should be brought back. The Department of Health and Social Services reports that eight regions of the state are in high alert status with widespread community transmission, of which one of them are the Kenai Peninsula Borough. As a result, City Administration in the Soldotna City Council has asked on direction for what’s to be done locally.
City Manager, Stephanie Queen:
“More recently, really for the past several weeks, we’ve seen case rates start to increase. Really, those trends have been reversed. We’ve also seen new vaccinations kind of taper off. We’re fairly steady in terms of the coverage of vaccination in our community. I’ve been spending the last week getting caught up to speed in what’s going on in the community for two purposes, one so that I can take a look at our employee personnel policy to make sure that we’re still taking appropriate steps with our employees to keep the workplace safe. The other reason is to bring forward and potentially get some feedback from council about whether the council is going to want to be making decisions relative to the public’s use of our facilities.”
Mayor Paul Whitney:
“I can see us requiring employees to wear a mask during working hours because we need to protect our employees and make sure they stay safe. Vaccinations, that’s a personal choice. I urge people to get the vaccination, but that’s up to them. We can’t force anybody and I don’t think we should ever get into that position where we have to force somebody to do something they don’t want to do. As far as requiring masks for the general public coming in, I think it should be their choice. We are here to protect our employees at this point and time. I think that’s what we should do.”
Queen said that, although she has the power to implement mask mandates for employees, she wants to see the framework potentially being used by council as a way to track risk levels and decisions such as limiting attendance at the sports center or canceling events at the library. She also mentioned that she would provide updated CDC guidelines for council to decide if they will consistently apply the updated guidance and see what that would look like for the city moving forward.