This week, 10 Kotzebue residents have tested positive for COVID-19, including two employees of local health care provider Maniilaq Association.
Maniilaq officials said that on Wednesday, six passengers returning to Kotzebue from out of state all tested positive for the virus. All six medically isolated themselves in Kotzebue immediately after testing.
Read more stories on how the coronavirus is affecting rural Alaska
On Tuesday, Maniilaq announced three other Kotzebue residents, including two of its employees, tested positive for the virus as well. The two employees don’t perform health services at Maniilaq. One of the three individuals who tested positive on Tuesday is showing symptoms of the virus. Officials say they don’t believe that those cases are travel-related.
On Monday, a separate resident had tested positive for the virus, making ten total cases in Kotzebue this week. Officials said the resident had recently traveled to Kotzebue from Anchorage, and they showed symptoms of the virus, which include cold and flu symptoms, as well as the loss of smell and taste.
With these ten new cases, there have now been 60 positive cases of COVID-19 in the Maniilaq service area, which covers Kotzebue, the surrounding Northwest Arctic Borough villages and the North Slope village of Point Hope.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
