Alaska's cases have undergone a huge uptick: from 0, to 14, to 27 in a day. Our governor encouraged a rapid reopening and is now pushing to eliminate our mandatory 14 day quarantine in favor of a far less reliable "test" done up to 3 days before arrival.
Governor Dunleavy @GovDunleavy began using rhetoric weeks ago about "living with the virus" and "staying under healthcare capacity" rather than elimination or eradication. The opposite of New Zealand's incredibly effective playbook of stamping out the virus.
New Zealand has now restarted their economy with far more confidence and safety than we now have here in Alaska. Today, Dunleavy said that elimination wasn't even possible, which is clearly wrong. Instead, he thinks we can slow burn the epidemic.
When asked about having attended a large gathering in Wasilla where many were not wearing masks, he dodged the question, but did manage to say that masks don't really prevent the virus from transmitting. Really? Ample studies show that universal masks are very effective.
He basically used much of the type of rhetoric you see from governors in states like FL and GA: that the models were misleading, that the huge wave we expected "never came" - and gave the overall opinion that the virus is not as big a problem as social distancing measures are.
Governor Dunleavy might want to refresh is memory about the fact that the 1918 pandemic didn't kill the highest amount of any state in Alaska untill the FALL. In fact, Alaskans don't congregate a heck of a lot in the late winter, so February & March weren't ripe for transmission.
He has sought to remove ALL covid19 restrictions from businesses. No masks. No hand sanitizer. No social distancing. Churches can fill however full they like, despite their clear track record as super spreading places. Dunleavy's attitude is one of ignorance and false confidence.
Today's press conference boded very poorly for the future of Alaska's covid19 response. After saying he would "watch the daily numbers" and respond accordingly, which was always weird, as daily numbers tell you what happened a couple of weeks ago - not today.
Today Dunleavy seemed like a guy who doesn't get that at 27 new cases a day, Alaskans are living in FEAR. That fear will kill business a lot faster than a little social distancing with precautions in place. With 1 stroke of the pen he can make masks mandatory. Why doesn't he?
Here in Anchorage all we can hope for is that mayor Berkowitz @mayorethananc continues to fight for precautions to stay in place, and for the mandatory quarantine to stay in effect here in Anchorage.
Berkowitz kept precautions in place in businesses to help prevent spread, arguing that this would help their business and improve our economy. Dunleavy appears to be caving to the pressure from the folks who want to go back to "life as it was."
There is no going back. And nobody's right to "no be forced to wear a mask" should trump the public health benefit of universal masking in a time of a global pandemic. Today the Alaskan governor was at his worst since the beginning of this saga: all spin and deflecting.
The question is: what will Mike Dunleavy do if this virus actually goes exponential here? His attitude seems to all but guarantee it.
Source to article from Anchorage Daily News about our uptick in cases: adn.com/alaska-news/20…
Source to article about Dunleavy removing the travel quarantine in favor of allowing the option for testing adn.com/alaska-news/20…
