UPDATE: One of the cases announced Friday was a Dillingham city resident, and another resident tested positive Tuesday, Nov. 10. Staff at Kanakanak Hospital were also exposed to the disease, so the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation is imposing additional safety measures there.
This story was updated on Nov. 10 to include new information from the City of Dillingham.
There is another case of suspected community spread of COVID-19 in the Dillingham Census Area. That makes for a total of two cases whose origins are unknown, according to the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation.
Those are among the 15 cases identified in the Dillingham area last week by BBAHC.
The health corporation announced Wednesday that 10 people had tested positive for the disease. On Friday, it said five more people had tested positive. Four of those are contacts of a previous case, and one is suspected of being community spread. The state health team is contact tracing.
The people who tested positive are from two different communities, though BBAHC did not say which ones.
One Dillingham city resident was among the people who tested positive Friday, and the Capstone Clinic reported another positive case Tuesday, Nov. 10. There are four active cases in Dillingham, according to the city. Both are related to travel, and there is currently no community spread in the community.
Staff at Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham were also recently exposed to COVID-19, according to BBAHC. The health corporation is imposing additional safety measures there. That means all non-urgent medical care that was scheduled will be canceled until further notice, and all village travel for medical teams is postponed at this time.
In the combined Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula boroughs, four residents have tested positive since Nov. 3. Two people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, one person on Thursday, and one tested positive on Saturday.
According to the state, there are a total of 84 active cases in the Dillingham area and the two boroughs.
Contact isabelle@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
