FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2020
Contact: Alexis Erikson, Public Relations Specialist
Phone: (907) 443-8918
On November 13, Norton Sound Health Corporation received three positive COVID-19 results. The patients agreed to allow NSHC to share their home community of Nome, where they are safely isolating.
The State of Alaska Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing have been notified of the cases and will conduct further investigation. NSHC has considered these patient’s virus acquisition as a close contact case, meaning they picked it up from a patient with a confirmed case of COVID-19.
A close contact is defined by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention as someone who has spent 15 minutes within 6 feet of a confirmed case. During the investigation process with a confirmed case, close contacts are identified. Public Health Nursing or NSHC will reach out to those people and instruct them on quarantine requirements and provide other education.
If you have not been contacted by NSHC or Public Health Nursing and identified as a close contact of recent cases, but you still have concerns, you can get tested for COVID-19. In Nome, you can walk-in to the Operations Building (south side) by the garage doors. Their COVID-19 testing hours will be Monday through Friday from 8 – 12 P.M. and 2 – 5 P.M. On the weekend, testing hours are on Sunday from 2 – 5 P.M.
If residents have questions regarding symptoms, which can include coughing, shortness of breath, fevering, fatigue, loss of taste or smell, diarrhea, or other cold-like symptoms, they should contact their local clinic or the Nurse Call Line at (907) 443-6411 or 844-586-8773 if outside of regular clinic hours. Other general questions about COVID-19 can be directed to the State of Alaska’s 211 resource number.
