FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2020
Contact: Reba Lean, Public Relations Manager
Phone: 907-443-9674
Nome, Alaska – Two patients tested positive for COVID-19 in the Norton Sound/Bering Strait region on Tuesday, August 11. The patients agreed to allow Norton Sound Health Corporation to disclose their home community of Nome and that their tests were done as a part of the City of Nome’s testing and quarantine travel requirements. They are now safely isolating.
The patients also agreed to share they are NSHC employees, but their cases are believed to be travel-related. Per NSHC protocol, employees are not to return to work after traveling until completing at least a seven-day quarantine, including COVID-19 testing upon arrival to the region and testing again at the end of their quarantine.
NSHC notified the State of Alaska Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing of the case, which will conduct further investigation. NSHC has begun reaching out to close contacts of the patients to notify them of quarantine instructions and testing availability.
If you are identified as a close contact and instructed to quarantine, you will be asked to complete a full 14-day quarantine, starting from the last time you made contact with the infected individual. During your quarantine, you should watch for signs and symptoms of the virus, including a fever or other cold-like symptoms. When quarantining, you should stay away from others, either by keeping inside your home or out in the country.
NSHC is still recommending members of the public limit their social circles, or “bubbles,” to a few trusted people, including your household and one or two other families or groups. This precaution will limit any potential spread of COVID-19 and make it much easier to trace close contacts if someone does become infected.
