There are still no cases of coronavirus in Haines as of Wednesday, March 25 according to SEARHC marketing director Meagan Bosak. SEARHC is declining, region-wide, to provide information about how many people have been tested at their clinics or how many negative tests results come back.
“To protect patient and provider privacy, SEARHC will not be providing information on negative testing,” Bosak said. “Negative testing has no impact on the safety of the community. Public health officials and/or SEARHC will alert the community when we are notified of a confirmed COVID-19 case.”
Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau is also not releasing publicly testing numbers expect for positive cases, said Bartlett spokesperson Katie Bausler.
Skagway’s Dahl Memorial Clinic and the Petersburg Medical Clinic, both community-owned facilities, are releasing the number of negative test results publicly.
“My goal is always to keep the public as informed as possible,” Skagway Borough manager Brad Ryan said of the municipality’s decision to release negative and pending test results. “It’s really just keeping the public informed and making decisions based on the information that’s out there instead of rumors.”
Petersburg Borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht said the Petersburg Medical Center shares the data on a daily call-in show with public radio station KFSK.
A SEARHC representative participates during the Haines Borough’s daily Emergency Operations Center meetings, borough clerk Alekka Fullerton said. As a precaution, a tent is going up in the SEARHC parking lot to allow clinic staff to sequester ill patients who need to be seen.