The pandemic takes a turn toward personal responsibility
The pandemic takes a turn toward personal responsibility
Alaska's covid-19 deaths are solely among the unvaccinated.
Good afternoon, Alaska! Today’s the first Monday of the Legislature’s special session and it feels a little bit like summer break. There’s summer reading to do but we’ll do that later.
In this edition: A look at a turning point in the pandemic, the view from the Legislature, a warning wrapped in a concession, the reading list and the parking lot aviary.
‘It is a personal choice’
And so it’s come to this. The Anchorage Daily News’ report on the recent covid-19 deaths told us something that we figured would be coming: That only unvaccinated people are dying from coronavirus. That alone is not particularly remarkable breakthrough—after all, the whole point of the vaccine was not just to reduce the spread of the virus but the severity of possible infections—but what I found particularly eye-catching is this quote from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s Dr. Barbara Creighton:
“It’s just heartbreaking and devastating to go through all that and watch that happen,” she said. “But it is a personal choice. We do all we can to educate them, and then we have to step back and respect that choice. That’s all we can do.”
Personal choice.
It’s, perhaps, a jarring turn for a pandemic where many of us collectively changed our behavior in order to protect ourselves, our families and our communities from the fast-spreading virus. For a year, we’ve worn masks and followed health precautions that all fit together under the banner: “My actions protect you and your actions protect me.” It was about a collective effort to curtail a virus as long as we didn’t have a more effective preventative measure.
But now we do. We have a vaccine that, at least in Alaska, is widely available to whoever wants one (there’s nearly 35,000 appointments on this handy-but-not-comprehensive vaccine website ready to be booked through the end of this month). And through some combination of politics, political disinformation and good ol’ procrastination, the state’s vaccination rate has largely leveled off. Alaska’s vaccination rate has fallen from a leader in the country to somewhere in the middle of the pack.
From a personal and public health perspective, it’s challenging. The last year and more of work we’ve put into the combating the pandemic would tell us that we should probably care about these unvaccinated folks who are succumbing to the virus. That as members of their community, we should continue to work to help protect everyone. But, as I’ve written before, there has to be some point where we collectively decide what’s an acceptable toll for getting back to normal.
After all, people die from the flu—including children—and we don’t dramatically change our lives to stop that. The question is where we draw the line. And it seems like that line is being drawn right around “There’s a widely available vaccine that will keep you out of the hospital,” which sounds about right to me.
How long are people who've followed the rules, listened to medical advice and received the vaccine going to continue to put their lives on hold out of concern for people who by and large couldn't be bothered to care in the first place?
After all, it is a free country.
Session outlook
There’s a House Judiciary Committee meeting today to take public testimony on Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposal to add the dividend, POMV draw and the Power Cost Equalization program into the Alaska Constitution.
It’s at 1 p.m. and can be seen here.
Dunbar concedes with a warning
Anchorage Assemblymember Forrest Dunbar officially conceded the mayoral race to conservative Dave Bronson on Friday night as Bronson held a 1,191-vote lead. He didn’t pull many punches in his announcement, warning that Bronson and company are working to set the stage to attack the city’s by-mail election system (which, again, Bronson won under) after witnessing “aggressive, confrontational, and frankly bizarre behavior from Bronson supporters and staff toward Election Center workers.”
“Coupled with their allies on the Assembly and in the far-right media, the Bronson campaign is strangely casting doubt on the election that they themselves are winning,” Dunbar wrote. “Likely, this is a prelude to a concerted attempt to repeal the Anchorage Vote By Mail system, despite the demonstrable success of that same system as seen in this year’s record turnout.”
Why it matters: The incoming Bronson administration is going to face some significant pushback from the largely progressive Anchorage Assembly when it comes to altering elections, which are largely in the realm of the Assembly anyways. It doesn’t mean the administration, which a load of power on day-to-day operations and hiring, won’t be able get up to mischief. Stay tuned.
In the news
“It took 121 days, but the Alaska Senate found a way to make the dysfunction of this year’s Legislature even worse,” is how the ADN’s editorial on the last-minute plan to pay out a big PFD without balancing the budget begins. From the Anchorage Daily News editorial board: The last terrible idea of the 2021 Alaska legislative session
With everything from bike tours of the city to advice on cooking hooligans, Anchorage YouTuber NuttyNu has been publishing an authentic look at Anchorage and Alaska for years. From Alaska Public Media: Popular Anchorage YouTuber NuttyNu finds his voice with raw portrayals of his hometown
After everything we’ve been through, “zombie wildfires” seems pedestrian. From KUAC via KTOO: ‘Zombie wildfires’ that can smolder underground all winter appear to be increasing in the Arctic
Parking lot nesting
The folks at Alaska News Now have been treated to an unusual sight the last few weeks with a pair of gulls who’ve picked the parking lot for a nest. They’ve also got a livestream here!
