Tag: coronavirus
Ailing Ravn begs for social media support, customers and employees start dueling petitions
The company sent out a letter asking customers to tag the president, treasury secretary, and Fox News asking for a change in federal rules that would allow Ravn to receive federal stimulus money.
Denali National Park reopens but plans for drastically different summer
With staffing at 50% because of the difficulty of implementing social distancing in seasonal housing, managers aren't sure how much vehicle and pedestrian traffic to allow into the park.
At the Dimond Center, the first big Anchorage mall to reopen, stores are ready but customers are few
At Alaska's largest retail space, businesses have opened again, but getting customers through the doors comes with many challenges.
A $3 million planeload of PPE for Alaska has landed in Anchorage
The plane is filled with orders of surgical masks, gowns, gloves and face shields that came from six different Chinese manufacturing companies, though tighter-fitting N95 masks couldn’t be obtained, said Heidi Hedberg, Alaska’s public health director.
Alaska wildfire officials preach prevention, with pandemic limiting out-of-state help
Alaskans saw huge impacts from wildfires last summer that required thousands of Outside firefighters to come to the state. But this year, Alaska-based fire...
Alaska, Interrupted, Episode 4: From the yurt
This week's Alaska, Interrupted episode features the state's chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, who’s the closest thing Alaska has to a pandemic folk hero.
On Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, businesses hit hard during last summer’s wildfires are facing another season of uncertainty
As business owners look to this season for some sort of normalcy and a chance to recoup financial losses, they’re facing a new challenge: a global pandemic.
‘The first glance at what’s coming’: Oilfield service companies alert state of more than 250 layoffs
Across the country, companies that provide oilfield services and equipment are cutting jobs and bracing for bankruptcy as the pandemic launches the oil and gas industry into a tailspin.
Fred Meyer starts accepting SNAP benefits for curbside pickup
But the WIC program from expectant mothers and children is still not available for curbside ordering at the grocery chain.
Zink to Alaskans: ‘It’s no time to let your guard down.’
Zink said that the state must go 28 days without a community case to say it doesn’t have community spread. That’s far from happening.
With Asian economy back on its feet, Alaskan geoduck clam fishery set to reopen
But there's a worry about low prices and the reduction of flights to Asia, meaning the clams might not make it to market as fresh as they could.
State is allowing Bering Sea fishermen to quarantine on boats. A similar plan from an oil company was denied.
Out-of-state fishing industry workers are supposed to quarantine in their home communities before coming to Alaska, and again once they get on their vessels. But some worry that they could get exposed during air travel to the remote fishing communities.
Ravn files plan to liquidate, as bankruptcy proceeds
The liquidation plan still needs to be approved in court, but it is a signal that Ravn, once Alaska’s largest rural airline, is ready to call it quits.
Federal judge temporarily blocks aid to Alaska Native corporations
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued an order finding that the tribes that sued to block the money from being paid to regional or village corporations were likely to win.
Ketchikan’s distance learning program was ready to scale up. So why did the state go with Florida’s?
Education officials in Alaska were surprised when the Dunleavy administration announced a one-year, $525,000 contract with an out-of-state digital school offering similar services to the Alaska Digital Academy.
Scientists are struggling to understand COVID-19. As Alaska ramps up testing, what will they find out?
There’s a lot you can learn from testing data, besides just who has the disease. State researchers are working to understand where it is, what symptoms people have and how to prepare for future outbreaks.
Ravn’s bankruptcy leaves medical transport vacuum in rural Alaska
Ravn’s bankruptcy earlier this month left a lot of questions for rural healthcare providers who depend on those airlines to fly patients in for medical care.
Juneau Airport Board may leave millions of dollars of CARES Act funding unspent
The Juneau Airport Board’s decision last Thursday to put its share of CARES Act funding into operations, and nothing for big-ticket capital construction, means Juneau may be forgoing millions of dollars.
From her home office yurt, Alaska’s chief medical officer navigates ‘uncharted territory’
Dr. Anne Zink started as an emergency room doctor, but was drawn into health policy after seeing the failures of Alaska's medical system while she was on the job. Now she's become a trusted voice as she appeals to residents to follow stringent social distancing guidelines.
Ketchikan’s rec center was supposed to house homeless during pandemic. An early re-opening has critics worried.
Ketchikan officials want to reopen the rec center as soon as possible in order to provide physical wellness opportunities for residents, but homelessness advocates worry that closing the shelter early could risk spreading the coronavirus.