On the regular Thursday Covid Brief with host Josh Krohn, guests were South Peninsula Hospital’s Derotha Ferraro and Public Health Nurse Lorne Caroll.
South Peninsula Hospital reports zero ER visits and new hospitalizations related to Covid for the week ending May third. During that week, 372 tests were given and of those only 24 came back positive. That means we are currently at a 6 percent positivity rate down slightly from the previous week. One change that will be implemented is SPH charging for Covid testing by July first, as Covid response becomes part of the hospital's “regular” healthcare services.
South Peninsula Hospital’s Derotha Ferraro said vaccinations are still being offered and administered on certain days.
“We do provide the vaccines on Sundays and Mondays by appointment. And because there has been such great demand for it, for, for it, especially since the announcement of the second boosters for certain high risk groups. We did add capacity in our scheduling on Sundays and Mondays,” Ferraro said.
Public Health Nurse Lorne Caroll reported that as far as the state case numbers go, things have been holding pretty steady.
“Statewide, we've, we've been receiving reports for about 1400 cases per week, or, or that's a couple 100 per day. And so looking back into time, what, what's that look like and feel like? Well, that's comparable to about twice as many cases as we were experiencing last May,” Carroll said.
You can go to dhss.alaska.gov to find the Alaska Covid-19 dashboard. There you can find monthly updates, weekly case numbers, information about vaccines and more. The regular Thursday Covid Brief provides weekly local updates, you can listen to each week's brief on kbbi.org or find the podcast on your favorite app.
