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Talk of Alaska: Lessons and Stories from the Pandemic

A woman swabs someone's nose.
Dr. Ellen Hodges tests a Bethel resident at a COVID-19 testing event hosted by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel, Alaska on Nov. 7, 2020. The state is now tracking COVID-19 by looking at trends over time rather than granular data as they did at the beginning of the pandemic. (Katie Basile/KYUK)

What has been learned, or not, from the global pandemic that for more than two years drove medical facilities to the breaking point and killed more than a million Americans. The fast spreading disease also shut down huge swaths of our national and state economy in a manner that most of us have never experienced. Even though President Joe Biden said in September that the pandemic is over, nationally more than 300 people are still dying every day from Covid. So how have Alaskans coped with mandates, anxiety, vaccines and illness? We’ll discuss pandemic lessons and stories on this Talk of Alaska.

HOST:  Lori Townsend

GUESTS:

Julia O'Malley, Journalist, Teacher, and Writer in Residence at the Anchorage Museum

Kevin Berry, Associate professor at UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Neighbors: Stories from Anchorage's Pandemic Years

PARTICIPATE:

Call  907-550-8422 (Anchorage) or  1-800-478-8255 (statewide) during the live broadcast.

Send an email to  talk@alaskapublic.org (Comments may be read on air).

Post your comment during or after the live broadcast on social media (Comments may be read on air).

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 at 10 a.m. on Alaska public radio stations statewide.

Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452.