Covid 19 in Alaska

      People living in remote areas of Alaska are getting the Covid 19 vaccine because of the dedication of an all-female team of health care  workers. The team of one doctor, a pharmacist and two nurses travelled by plane, sled and snowmobile to deliver the vaccine. These women had only a few hours of daylight and with temperatures below zero it was a challenge to deliver the vaccine to these people. One of the women had  to wrap the Covid 19 vaccine in a protective envelope and put it under her coat for the ride carrying it like a baby. Otherwise the vaccine would freeze inside the needle in the frigid outdoor air. Together, the women traveled  hundreds of miles to multiple villages to deliver 65 vaccines to people in the remote villages of the north. To travel under these conditions is courageous but the women said they will keep going out until everyone is vaccinated.  Time was of the essence because the virus was starting to accelerate in these small northern villages. Remembering the flu of 1918 and the devastation that it caused, the vaccine was crucial to the lives of these people.

      Pandemics such as Covid 19 are not uncommon in the north. When the first case of the virus was confirmed in Alaska, early in 2020 people rushed off to buy toilet paper  and checked each day to see the virus death toll in the rest of the U.S. This reaction was not unreasonable because the 1918 flu took a heavy toll on the Alaskans, especially the natives. By the time this flu of 1918 was making its way to Alaska, the territorial Governor knew ways to prevent it. He ordered schools, churches theaters and pool halls be closed in communities. Sound familiar? Mail coming off the ship  in Nome was fumigated but the people weren’t and the flu was given to some of the mail carriers. Those mailmen brought the sickness all over western Alaska. Passengers on the ship were quarantined but one passenger had it and soon the disease raged out of control. What followed was an explosion of illness. Villages were decimated. People froze to death and others didn’t have enough food. Children became orphans. The world as they knew  it was turned upside down and much of the culture was lost. The Elders died and the missionaries imposed a different kind of life  on the natives’ way of life. Much of their culture was lost because the missionaries banned such things as drumming, storytelling and dancing. Now, there is a resurgence of Eskimo culture, lost so long ago to the Spanish flu. 

Some villages quarantined themselves and were successful. My husband used to tell me about a village who had warded off the people travelling there by guarding the village with rifles. Looking it up, I learned that in Shishmaref, the village he had told me about,there were plenty of rifles. The men set up guards eight miles to the south of the village and waited it out. They beat the flu and avoided the deaths that other native villages had experienced.

      As I write this blog, Covid 19 is raging all over United States. The vaccine can’t come soon enough for all of us. After reading the above, I wondered how the Kivalina, the place that is close to my heart was faring and  so I googled it. The village had not been doing well. At least 10% of the village had tested positive and the cases were rising in all the small villages in Northwestern Alaska. Kivalina tribal officials started water deliveries to home bound residents to ward off spread of the virus.in addition people who have tested negative for Covid are being hired to fill fuel tanks and deliver groceries to those who are homebound. People were  told to hunker down and avoid contact with any people outside of their home.

      The residents live in overcrowded conditions, making it hard to isolate the sick from the healthy. It is almost impossible to isolate in any place outside of the home and so the village has been on high alert urging people to wash their hands, wear masks, avoid gatherings and to practice social distancing as much as possible. It’s the same message that’s been given to us — except it’s different. Most of you reading this don’t live in areas accessible only by plane, dog teams and snowmobiles in the winter and by  plane and boat in the summer. Most of us don’t live in overcrowded conditions that only speeds up the virus. 

      If these people become ill enough, they will have to be flown out to the nearest hospital and if that hospital can’t treat them, then they will be flown to Anchorage. I hope the vaccine  has arrived in Kivalina now. I think of the children I knew so many years ago. They are no doubt grandparents or even great grandparents. I think of them and know that without the vaccine this village will be wiped out as so many villages were in the flu of 1918. 

      Knowing the virus is out of control, we can only hope that the vaccine will help obliterate it. In the meantime practice social distancing, wear your mask and stay away from large gatherings. Stay safe and stay well. 

https://thealaskanobodyknows.home.blog

Journey Through Fire and Ice to be published late January or early February