Alaska health officials answer questions from the public, while COVID-19 cases continue to rise


State public health experts gathered Wednesday to discuss the latest science and the medical response to COVID-19.

They talked about the mechanics of masks and how they help to prevent the spread of the virus.

State epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin explained that virus particles are very small, but they hitch a ride with a person’s larger respiratory droplets in order to infect someone else.

“So, what we know is that when I cough or I sneeze or even I’m talking or I’m singing into a mask, I’m going to catch a lot of those larger respiratory droplets and prevent transmission that way,” he said.

The state’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink answered questions about how businesses can safely operate during the pandemic and what they can do when customers don’t cooperate.

“We get asked a lot of legal questions,” she said. “We’re not lawyers, but in general I can tell you that businesses have the ability to require shirt, shoes, pants before you come in and you have the ability to require a mask of someone coming in.”

Zink suggested that business owners talk to their staff and potentially to their lawyers about how to enforce mask policies.

The state reported 41 new cases of COVID-19 by the end of the day Tuesday: 38 Alaskans and 3 nonresidents. Cumulatively, 978 Alaskans and 198 nonresidents in the state have tested positive for the virus. More than 114,000 tests have been performed.

Of the new cases, 15 are Alaskan residents from the Anchorage area.

There are also cases among residents from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Interior, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the Northwest Arctic and Ketchikan Gateway Boroughs and Nome.

There are new non-resident cases in the seafood industry in Sitka and in a visitor to Anchorage.

Public health officials will be hosting call-in programs called “COVID-19 Science ECHO” at noon on Wednesdays. They’re being streamed live on Facebook or via Zoom. There’s also a form to submit questions.

Rashah McChesney

Daily News Editor

I help the newsroom establish daily news priorities and do hands-on editing to ensure a steady stream of breaking and enterprise news for a local and regional audience.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications