Credit Hope McKenney/KUCB
Unalaska s largest fish processing plant reopened Monday after a COVID-19 outbreak forced it to shut down for almost a month.
UniSea closed its doors Jan. 5 after a handful of workers tested positive for the virus, following a New Year s gathering in company housing.
Since then, 66 of UniSea s more than 900 workers tested positive for the virus, according to UniSea President Tom Enlow. Seventeen of those were during their two-week entry quarantine, and 49 were non-travel related cases, he said. The virus has not been eliminated just yet, Enlow said in an email. We have active cases in isolation that we are monitoring and close contacts in quarantine that we are continuing to test. But we feel very good about our response to the outbreak and containment thus far.
Stakeholders discuss possible plans to reopen schools in Unalaska January 21st |
As the city contends with potential widespread exposure to the coronavirus, Unalaska s schools have begun to determine if and how they will provide in-person learning opportunities to students.
After the city made exceptions to its mandated 10-person gathering limit at a City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12, allowing schools to use up to 50% of classroom occupancy, or 10 people per room, whichever is greater the district began looking to once again revise its Smart Start 2020 plan to allow students back into the building during high risk and hunker down scenarios.
But the school isn t planning to bring students back at 50% capacity, according to Superintendent John Conwell.
Unalaska reestablishes hunker down order January 14th |
As Unalaskans are once again being asked to stay at home as much as possible after the city raised its coronavirus risk level to high last Thursday, students are left in limbo awaiting transition to distance education.
The city reported four cases of COVID-19 on Jan. 6, and since then, has confirmed three additional cases through contact tracing, according to City Manager Erin Reinders. Unfortunately, at this point, we can no longer define these as isolated cases, she said at a special City Council meeting last Friday afternoon. They are community acquired with unknown origin and not travel-related, and additional positives outside of the household have been identified through contact tracing.