Case rates for COVID-19 continue to climb in the state and the Mat-Su Borough, with numbers now resembling those from last winter. KTNA’s Phillip Manning has more about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mat-Su and Northern Susitna Valley.
Wednesday’s update on COVID-19 from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services shows the highest daily new case count in the Mat-Su in almost four months. Statewide, the curve that had largely flattened out earlier in the summer is rising sharply once again, resembling the increases from last October.
Earlier this month, I spoke with Dr. Paul Forman, Chief Medical Officer for Sunshine Community Health Center. COVID-19 dominated the conversation, including the news that Sunshine would be requiring employees to be vaccinated against the virus that causes the disease.
Dr. Forman says the Mat-Su continues to lag behind much of the rest of the state in vaccination rates, and that there are measurable consequences.
“Mat-Su is the third-worst region in the state in terms of immunization rates. If you look at age groups, our seniors are better vaccinated than younger people. If you look at hospitalizations, younger people are making up a greater portion of the hospitalizations than seniors. This is not a coincidence.”
According to the latest state data, just over a quarter of hospital beds are currently available around Alaska, and less than a quarter of ICU beds. While a relatively small proportion (12%) of those beds are occupied by COVID patients, Dr. Forman says the increase means hospital resources become strained, making non-COVID illnesses potentially more dangerous.
“If you show up in the emergency room and the hospital’s full, it compromises our ability to get you to the cath lab to get that angioplasty. It compromises your ability to get surgery if you need surgery. Filling up our hospitals with COVID is compromising our ability to deliver all kinds of care.”
While cases rise similar to the way they did last October, vaccination rates remain largely flat in the Valley. The Mat-Su remains near the bottom in vaccinations, with just over forty percent of those eligible having received at least one dose.
Last week, we played an excerpt from my interview with Dr. Forman where he described how he speaks to those hesitant to get vaccinated. He says those who are not vaccinated range from people who have questions or concerns to those who believe various conspiracy theories. Forman says it’s frustrating at times because he sees the real impacts that the pandemic has had on his patients.
“I see people who have lost family members and loved ones, and then there’s those people who have not had that direct contact. And because they have not had that direct contact with a victim, they dismiss it. And it’s very frustrating when I just got out of a room with someone who is crying because of COVID, to go into a room with someone who dismisses it because they don’t think it’s real.”
My interview with Dr. Forman and Sunshine CEO Randall Kowalke came about a week after they attended a teleconference with Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink. Kowalke says Dr. Zink delivered a stark message for what could be to come.
“We have less people in the care business today than we did a year ago. And that parting comment was that we’re about to experience the worst two months in the state’s history with the virus.”
Links to information about COVID-19 and its vaccines, as well as the complete, unedited interview with Dr. Forman and Randall Kowalke, are available at KTNA.org.
