COVID-19 is rearing its ugly head as the dominant Delta variant has appeared in Alaska as of late. On the Kenai Peninsula, increasing COVID-19 cases led to Heritage Place Skilled Nursing Facility having to close last week.
Bruce Richards, External Affairs Director for Central Peninsula Hospital tells KSRM:
“We had two positive staff members at Heritage Place. It occurred at two different times. The first one was last Thursday. Once that occurs where you have a positive person, whether it’s staff or a resident in the facility, you have to close down visiting. It’s a regulatory requirement. Everybody, staff and residents, have to be tested and they have to go through two rounds of testing and come up negative before we can open back up. We were just reaching that point yesterday (Wednesday) opening back up from the Thursday one getting the second round of testing and then we had another positive staff person. Now it’s gone back to closed and they’re doing the two rounds of testing. Until we get two negative rounds of testing, they’ll be closed to visiting.”
Richards says that concern is mounting as the delta variant increases in Alaska:
“You know, we have the Delta variant, which is now the most prevalent strain and it’s in all 50 states. We’re seeing an uptick in patients here at the hospital. We currently have four positive COVID in-patients. We haven’t seen those kind of numbers since back in May. IT certainly is on everybody’s radar. It’s still around. It’s still prevalent. It’s starting to increase. We’re keeping an eye on it and we’re concerned about it.”
Overall, Department of Health and Social Services officials say the state is seeing an upward trend in hospitalizations for COVID-19. They say hospitalizations for the virus have been steadily increasing all month. The department says the state has gone from 15 patients on June 30th to 56 patients currently.