Some Statewide COVID-19 Restrictions Lifted
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Travel to communities on the road system is now allowed for any purpose for members of the same household. (Includes recreation or sightseeing)
- Travelers should wear a mask when interacting with vendors at stores or gas stations.
The State of Alaska is allowing some non-essential businesses to reopen if they follow the new guidelines.
Restaurants can open for limited in-person dining.
- Restaurants can open with reservations and at only 25% capacity.
- Walk-ins prohibited.
- Must have hand sanitizer available.
- 10 feet between tables.
- Only household members allowed at a table.
- All employees must wear fabric face coverings.
- All restaurants are still allowed to remain open for delivery and curbside takeout service.
Limited in-store shopping is permitted at retail stores.
- No more than 20 customers or 25% of the building’s maximum occupancy.
- Maintain a social distance of at least six feet between customers.
- All employees and customers must wear fabric face coverings.
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Businesses that provide personal services can open for limited services. (Includes barbers, nail salons, and hairdressers)
- Appointments are required.
- No walk-in customers.
- One customer per staff member.
- Customers must be screened ahead of their appointment for COVID-19 symptoms and recent travel.
- Workstations must be cleaned after each customer.
Governor Dunleavy extended the health mandate governing international and interstate travel until May 19.
- All visitors to Alaska are required to self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
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Travelers are required to sign a form with their contact information and the address where they will self-quarantine.
- Violators are subject to a $25,000 fine or jail time.
The social distancing requirements in Alaska have been extended until further notice.
Opening Up Anchorage
Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz unveiled a plan to begin opening the City up after weeks under a ‘hunker down’ order.
Restaurants can open for reservations. (Walk-in visits are prohibited)
- Parties are limited to household members.
- 25% of the maximum capacity.
- Tables must be 10 feet apart or greater.
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All employees and customers are encouraged to wear masks. (Except while eating)
- Self-service buffets and salad bars are prohibited.
- Menus must be disposable or must be sanitized between uses.
- Hand sanitizer must be publicly available for all customers.
- Workstations, equipment, screens, doorknobs, and restaurants must undergo hourly touch-point sanitizing.
- All staff must be screened before working.
As of April 27th, retail stores in Anchorage can begin opening.
- Employees and customers must adhere to the social distancing protocol of six feet.
- Only one adult per household.
- Customers and employees must wear face coverings.
- Hand sanitizer must be publicly available for customers.
- Items being returned or dropped off must be sanitized before restocking.
- Businesses are limited to a maximum capacity of 20 customers or 25% of the approved occupancy.
- Cashiers must be six feet apart or greater.
- All staff must be screened before their shift begins.
Businesses that provide personal care services can open if they follow strict public safety guidelines.
- Businesses can only accept reservations. Walk-in customers are not allowed.
- Customers must be screened when they make a reservation.
- Waiting areas must remain closed.
- Only the customer receiving service may enter, except for a parent or guardian.
- The number of clients in a store must be limited to one person per barber/stylist/technician.
- Barbers, stylists, and technicians must, at a minimum, wear a surgical mask because cloth face coverings do not provide sufficient protection.
Health Care Services Can Resume
Health care providers are now allowed to resume services that don’t require the use of personal protective equipment. (Includes physicals, routine exams, and minimal procedures)
Providers must screen all patients for recent illness, travel, fever, or recent exposure to COVID-19. (Test all patients for COVID-19, if possible)
The order applies to:
- Athletic trainers.
- Chiropractors.
- Dentists.
- Hearing aid dealers.
- Marital and family therapists.
- Massage therapists.
- Midwives.
- Naturopaths.
- Physical therapists.
- Professional counselors.
- Veterinarians.
Starting on May 4, health care providers can resume non-urgent and elective services.
- All patients should be tested for COVID-19 within 48 hours.
- No visitors except for end of life visits, a parent of a minor, and one spouse or caregiver.
- Patients should have a plan in place for returning to their home community if travel restrictions are in place.
- State health officials believe the State has enough protective medical equipment and hospital capacity to allow elective procedures to resume.
The State of Alaska is requiring health insurers to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing.
- Insurers are required to liberalize telehealth benefits.
Fishing in Alaska
Alaska’s subsistence, sport, and personal use fisheries will open this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
ADF&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang authored a commentary noting that the department is preparing to “prosecute fisheries this summer as close to normally as possible.”
The commissioner stressed that the department is developing plans to protect employees, fishermen, and fishing communities.
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Anyone coming from out-of-state must self-quarantine for 14 days. (Quarantining onboard is allowed)
- Staff will be encouraged to wear face coverings when interacting with the public.
- The department is developing plans to medevac staff who display COVID-19 symptoms.
- Rapid testing machines are being deployed to fishing communities.
Health Mandate 17 puts in place protective measures for independent commercial fishing vessels. (Covers vessels not fishing under a fleet-wide workforce protective plan)
- Captains must keep a COVID-19 log certifying that crew members have been screened and completed the mandatory self-quarantine.
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Prior to fishing, captains must provide a signed copy of the vessel’s “Acknowledgement Form” to a tender or processor.
- All crewmembers must be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and travel to areas with widespread COVID-19 transmission.
- Crewmembers must wear a cloth face covering while in transit.
- Crewmembers need documentation from their captain or employer indicating that they are essential “Critical Infrastructure Worker.”
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All captains, crew members, processing workers, and others arriving in Alaska must self-quarantine for 14 days. (Temperature taken twice)
- All face-to-face interaction between crew and shore-based workers must be kept to an absolute minimum.
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Health Mandate 17 includes a series of best practices for life onboard vessels.
Several state and federal fisheries are currently underway.
- Commissioner Vincent-Lang says the department is posed to begin Alaska’s herring fisheries and the shrimp and sablefish fisheries in Prince William Sound.
Participants in fisheries are being asked to take precautions to prevent getting sick.
- Fish as close to home as possible.
- Practice social distancing.
- Use a mask while fishing.
There is growing concern about how to handle many of Alaska’s commercial fisheries.
- Some communities are concerned that outside fishermen and processors could bring COVID-19 to previously uninfected areas.
- The Executive Committee of the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation is opposing opening the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery.
- The Mayor of Dillingham wants the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery closed for the season.
- Commercial fishing has been labeled an essential industry by the State of Alaska.
