The Mat-Su Borough has been holding fairly regular information streams via Facebook Live since measure to combat the spread of COVID-19 have gone into place. Wednesday’s stream began with Borough Mayor Vern Halter repeating some stark figures released by the federal government earlier this week.
“Even in the best circumstances with social distancing, and [if] everything goes quite well, there could be 100,000 to 250,000 deaths in America. And if that didn’t wake up America, I don’t think anything will.”
Halter says he is extending the current closure of the Mat-Su Borough’s public buildings through the end of April, at least.
As daily reports of more confirmed cases roll in throughout the state, the Mat-Su Borough has been holding steady at just three confirmed cases. David Wallace, CEO of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, was questioned as to whether that low number is due to a lack of testing. He says the Mat-Su Regional has conducted more than a hundred coronavirus tests. While two-dozen of those are still pending, every test that has been completed has come back negative. In addition, there are other organizations conducting tests that are also coming back negative. Wallace credits steps taken by borough and state government as well as individuals with the slow spread of COVID-19 in the Mat-Su.
“I’m just thankful that it’s low…. I’m not going to tell you it’s because of testing, because we’ve done a significant number of tests. We continue to do more tests. They just keep coming back negative and from that standpoint, we feel very fortunate.”
While testing is happening, it can take days for results to come back. That poses a problem for first-responders, who must be taken off the line while their tests are pending. Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services Director Ken Barkley says steps are being taken to expedite that process.
“It will go to the lab and it will be marked as priority. That’s for first responders so that we can get them back working.”
Barkley says there has been an outpouring of support from the community for those helping fight the spread of COVID-19. The Mat-Su Borough has launched a “Helper’s Hub” page on its website, which Barkley says can guide those wishing to pitch in.
“That is available right now. It will be updated by the end of today. But that’s a place that you can go and get information on making masks. And also we were hoping to have on there shields as well for those that want to help out and make supplies for us.”
In addition to medical and emergency personnel, the borough’s non-profits, particularly organizations like food pantries, have seen an increase in demand. Elizabeth Ripley, CEO of the Mat-Su Health Foundation, says her organization has already given hundreds of thousands of dollars to help them through the current challenges.
“In just over a week, we’ve disbursed $380,000 in funds to various organizations to help them deliver meals to isolated folks in our community, to build out infrastructure to deliver services online, or make modifications to ensure high genic service delivery, and to make payroll to keep staff employed and delivering services as virtually as possible.”
As with all of the borough’s live streamed events, measures were taken to ensure there were no more than ten people in the room at a time, and everyone was at least six feet apart. That is expected to continue as long as social distancing mandates do. The next meeting of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th. That meeting has not been canceled, and it’s expected that accommodations will be made to attend online.
