Emergency officials on Saturday reported three new COVID-19 positive test results connected to Petersburg.
One of the cases is a Petersburg resident who is traveling outside of Alaska, was not in Petersburg while infected and poses no risk to the community. That according to Petersburg’s emergency operations center, which announced that case and two others on Saturday.
A second case is also a Petersburg resident who traveled here from out of state and was tested at the airport in keeping with a state travel mandate. The Alaska Department of Epidemiology has started a contact tracing investigation and that person is isolating.
A third case is an Alaskan resident who recently traveled here from elsewhere in the state. The EOC says that person did not initially get tested at the airport upon arrival but later sought medical advice after hearing of a family member’s recent positive test, also in Alaska. This person was not experiencing symptoms and has been directed to isolate. Emergency officials say the risk of exposure for the rest of the community in this case also appears to be low.
The community was briefly without any active cases last week, but the latest announcement puts Petersburg’s active case count at three and overall total at 29.
Local officials are encouraging all Alaskans traveling to Petersburg to be tested for free at the airport and to continue with other health precautions to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Petersburg’s COVID hotline is 772-5788.
