Officials in Skagway are asking residents to hunker down following the community’s first confirmed case of COVID-19, reported on Wednesday. The town of fewer than 1,000 people has been vigilant in keeping the coronavirus out, in anticipation of the return of cruise ships next year.
With more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19 among Alaska residents, Skagway was one of the last boroughs without any cases. Now state public health nurses are conducting contact tracing after a resident tested positive at the Dahl Memorial Clinic.
Borough Manager Brad Ryan said Skagway’s Emergency Operations Center takes the development very seriously. Residents are asked to shelter in place until contract tracing is complete.
“The obvious concern is we’re a very small, tight knit community, so we have a lot of contact with each other,” Ryan said.