As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in number, state public health leaders are offering access to themselves for the public to ask questions. Each Wednesday at noon, a team including Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, as well as Alaska’s Chief Epidemiologist, Joe McLaughlin, will discuss the latest science and the medical response to COVID-19.
Project ECHO stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. It is a collaborative model of medical education and care management that empowers clinicians everywhere to provide better care to more people, right where they live.
In a recent webinar, Dr. Anne Zink addressed Alaska’s rising COVID numbers by applauding the resilience of Alaskans: “We did this before. We kind of crushed the curve, surprisingly fast, early on. There is no magic to mandates: mandates only work as well as people following them and doing them. So, that’s really in the power of Alaskans’ hands and Alaskans did that. As we see these cases increase, this virus cannot live if we don’t give it a way to transmit from one person to another. We have the power to slow the spread of this disease and completely crush the curve once again, but it really takes Alaskans buying into that. So, as Dr. Olsen mentioned, wash your hands, wear your masks, stay at least six feet apart. There are simple tools – they can be hard to implement, but I just want to encourage Alaskans to pull back, go enjoy the outside, be safe physically and mentally, rather than going into the gym. Do what you can to minimize the spread, particularly in indoor spaces or where you may be in close-contact with others.”
Project ECHO creates a virtual learning network with real-time access to a team of multidisciplinary experts. Each session features a brief lecture and an interactive case or process discussion.
The weekly call-in COVID-19 Science ECHO programs are held at noon on Wednesdays. They are streamed live on Facebook or via Zoom. There’s also an online form to submit questions.