Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office issued an emergency alert on Thursday, urging Alaskans to take more precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The alert was sent to cellphones in Alaska, with a link to a YouTube video of the governor. The governor’s office said most Alaskans received the alert.
Dunleavy asked Alaskans to change their behavior, and said “the next three weeks are critical.”
“I’m speaking to you today, because Alaska is facing an escalating crisis that I need your help to solve,” Dunleavy said. “Like the rest of the nation, Alaska’s COVID-19 status is now in the red.”
That means all areas of the state are at the highest alert level and COVID-19 is rapidly spreading through Alaska communities. Dunleavy said health care workers, first responders and service members “are being infected at unprecedented rates.”
He said that if too many trauma nurses, paramedics and police officers are infected, they can’t perform critical duties.
“If we are going to keep our hospitals running and businesses open, all Alaskans must return to the same mindset that worked so well this past spring,” Dunleavy said.
He urged people to stay 6 feet apart from non-household members. And he asked people to wear masks “in any and every setting,” when they can’t stay 6 feet from others.
He noted that people are entering the holiday season, and asked people to celebrate “differently.” He added that his job as governor is not to tell people “how to live your life,” but to ensure the state’s security and safety, adding: “I can’t do that without your help.”
In the video, Dunleavy repeated several points that he made in a news conference on Friday.
He urged businesses and municipalities to have employees work from home as much as possible through the end of November. And he took the extra action of calling for state workers to work from home whenever feasible and made face masks and social distancing mandatory at state work sites for both state workers and visitors. These two actions are new.
The Alaska State Employees Association, which represents 8,000 state workers, has been calling for similar steps since the first weeks of the pandemic.
Executive Director Jake Metcalfe hopes the governor’s message brings more uniformity to state work-from-home practices, and that it leads to more workers teleworking.
“It’s been a policy that has been applied in some places, but not in all places,” he said.
But he’s concerned that Dunleavy’s reference to working from home “whenever feasible,” will lead to some workers continuing to unnecessarily work in state offices.
Metcalfe also says that mask requirements have varied between state offices, and have not been enforced. He hopes that will change now.
“It’s a safety issue for everybody that goes into a state office building, whether you’re an employee or just a resident of the state,” he said.
Metcalfe says his union wants a statewide mask mandate for all public spaces, not just state offices. The ASEA also is calling for more testing for the coronavirus at state work sites, particularly those that are experiencing outbreaks. And Metcalfe wants more communication between the administration and the union’s members.
This story has been updated with reaction from the Alaska State Employees Association.
