COVID-19

Doctors at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital are asking everyone in Alaska to wear masks across their mouths and noses. They say a homemade mask, bandana or scarf would be helpful in slowing the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. As KUAC’s Robyne reports, a lot of people are responding.

Last week, 2 residents and 4 staff members at Denali Center in Fairbanks tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak prompted the testing of all of the long-term care facility’s residents and staff, and results turned up one additional positive in a resident. Denali Center administrator Liz Woodyard shared the news during a Fairbanks Unified Incident Command press briefing Wednesday.

The changes wrought by health mandates and mitigation for COVID-19 have opened the door to scammers. A group commonly victimized by financial and computer scams, even in healthy times, is seniors. This week, the senior group AARP Alaska held a “Tele Town Hall” with health and fraud specialists to warn Alaskans about coronavirus scams. 

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported five new cases of COVID-19 Monday: 2 in Fairbanks, 2 in Anchorage and 1 in Palmer, bringing the statewide total to 119. Public Health officials are calling Fairbanks a “hot spot” for COVID-19 spread, because of a "cluster" of  cases at the community long-term care facility and connected to a local medical building.