As of Wednesday afternoon, Haines and Skagway are experiencing their highest number of COVID-19 cases to date. But local officials in both communities say those high numbers don’t paint the whole picture.

The municipality of Skagway has changed the way it’s listing positive COVID cases on its website. It’s now listing how many people are testing positive every day instead of trying to give a total number of active cases. Brent Kunzler is Dahl Memorial Clinic’s Medical Director in Skagway. He says they have been getting positive test results every day, for weeks.

We have, I would say, maybe one, or two at the most, positives every day,” said Kunzler.

The public health clinic reports the numbers to the state daily, but what happens after that isn’t clear as the state has dialed back its information sharing on COVID totals.

In Haines, health officials say the town is in the midst of its largest outbreak yet with nearly 250 cases since late December. That’s more cases than they’ve had during the entire pandemic. SEARHC says they are receiving between five and 10 positive test results every day. But that doesn’t include people who test positive at home.

Haine’s borough clerk Alekka Fullerton says they can no longer report active COVID numbers on the borough’s website.

“We cannot give a clear picture. We’re not getting the numbers from SEARHC anymore and we’re not getting the numbers from public health anymore, either. So we’re not getting the raw data to be able to report. And the reason that has been given to me is that it’s not accurate because of all the home tests. So they don’t want to give an inaccurate picture,” said Fullerton.

State public health officials say case counts by communities are being published three times a week. And the state dashboard generally should catch up to locally reported cases.

DHSS officials told reporters on Wednesday: “The dashboard is updated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (if not a state holiday). The state dashboard may differ from local dashboards, but the state dashboard generally should catch up to local reports.”

Fullerton says with the continuous stream of new cases of COVID has become a fact of life in upper Lynn Canal.

“You have to presume that there’s 50 cases of COVID in your community. And it’s up to you now, what you do with that information. Because we can’t hide from it. You know, when there was one or two cases, we could, you know, try to isolate the people and hide from it. It’s too widespread, we can’t do that anymore,” said Fullerton.

Kunzler says the new CDC recommendations say that people with COVID are most likely to transmit the virus one to two days before the onset of symptoms, and two to three days after symptoms subside.

“The reality is, nothing is a cookbook like that. You could shed for a day you could shed for a week, could be longer, but then you could be a carrier where you have absolutely no symptoms,” said Kunzler.

He also says one of the biggest health risks of the virus is developing pneumonia.

“If you start to have any difficulty breathing, wheezing, shortness of breath, then we need to do probably a chest X-ray to make sure you don’t have pneumonia,” said Kunzler.

There are COVID treatments available such as monoclonal antibody therapy and others. Seeing a healthcare provider early on during infection is important especially if you have a compromised immune system.

N-95 masks are recommended as the most effective type of face-covering as opposed to cloth masks. 

SEARHC says people with full vaccinations and boosters have the lowest amount of symptoms, are more resistant, and don’t get as ill. They also say they are seeing patients battling their third round of COVID. The state says 95% of all cases in Alaska are the omicron variant. 

The CDC currently recommends five days of isolation after the onset of symptoms and another five days of mask use following that.

N-95 masks can be picked up in Haines at the Borough Administration building on Third Avenue for free. In Skagway, they are sold at the Skagway Hardware Store and KN-95 masks are sold at Grizzlies General Store.

At-home test kits are available at the SEARHC clinic in Haines and at the Borough Administration building. The Skagway Traditional Council provides them for no charge, and there’s a free federal mail-order program at covidtests.gov.

PCR Tests are offered in Skagway at the Dahl Memorial Clinic by appointment for symptomatic patients, or those who need to test before returning to work. People without symptoms will not be scheduled. 

Tests are also offered at the Skagway Traditional Council from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for no charge with no appointment necessary.

Tests in Haines are offered at SEARHC clinic by appointment for travel purposes, for symptomatic patients, and close contacts by appointment. Tests are also available at the SEARHC clinic in Klukwan from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.