Alaska appears to be weathering the COVID-19 storm relatively well, with fewer than 5,000 confirmed cases as of August 5, 2020, and just 23 deaths. The state’s numbers are climbing, however, and officials would like to stall that rise.
To that end, the state has been experimenting with testing requirements for all visitors entering the state. Until the first week of August, the plan was to block visitors from entering if they couldn’t show proof of a negative COVID-19 test in the past three days. Announced July 28, that plan was to have no exceptions. Only state residents with current Alaska addresses would be allowed to get tested after arriving.
“We’re not trying to make it difficult for folks to come here, we just want to make sure that we’re taking care of Alaskans first,” said state governor Mike Dunleavy.
Inevitably, there was pushback. The announcement prompted a heavy wave of travel cancellations, hitting Alaska’s hospitality industry hard right at the beginning of its busiest season of the year. August is when the aurora borealis viewing season begins, and in a normal year, the Northern Lights attract millions from around the world.
“To time it so you can have a test in 72 hours, that’s just infeasible,” said Deb Hickok, president of travel company Explore Fairbanks. Hickok spent the past week fielding cancellations from customers unable to secure testing in time.
With the lucrative season at risk, Dunleavy and Adam Crum, Commissioner of the Department of Health and Services, have revised the policy. Now, nonresidents are also eligible to be tested in Alaska, provided they remain quarantined until their results are in. The price is moderate—$250 per test—but the state doesn’t take insurance.
Residents will still be tested for free. “Alaska residents traveling back to home communities in rural Alaska will now have the option of testing at the airport sites, to prevent bringing the virus into our small communities,” Crum said.
Children under the age of 10 will not be required to have a negative COVID test to enter the state. But that seems like a major public health oversight because children still get, and carry, COVID-19, and can pass it on to more vulnerable people.
Photo An aurora borealis display over Fairbanks, Alaska. Credit: Shutterstock