A Remington Deluxe Model 5 manual typewriter. (Homer News file photo)

A Remington Deluxe Model 5 manual typewriter. (Homer News file photo)

Editorial: The pandemic is not yet behind us

Objects may be closer than they appear — the pandemic is not behind us

At a press conference April 6 in Kenai, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the COVID-19 pandemic “is in the rearview mirror.” Dunleavy is wrong.

For Alaska, the United States and the world, the pandemic is far from over. It’s as if we have run the Boston Marathon and are now climbing Heartbreak Hill. We hope this will be the last hill, but we still have to finish 5 more miles of the race.

From April 6 through April 18, 19 Alaskans have died with COVID-19, 44 more have been hospitalized and 2,184 have tested positive. On the southern Kenai Peninsula, 21 people have tested positive. Alaska remains in a high-alert level of 21.82 cases per 100,000 people. The peninsula is at 19.98 cases and the southern peninsula is at 10.7 cases — all in the red.

Some people act like we’re done with the pandemic. At a March 29 town hall meeting held at Captain’s Coffee by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, most of the people there partied like it was 2019. As people came in, they sat together, chatting away. Social distancing? Mask wearing? Hand-washing? Covering coughs? Little of that was in sight.

Last Saturday for the 27th annual Homer Winter King Tournament, 1,562 anglers went out on the water to fish. Fishing outdoors in an open boat with people in your social bubble or fully vaccinated is fairly safe, but when you then got about 400 people milling about outside at the Deep Water dock for the awards ceremony, sometimes standing shoulder to shoulder, eh, not so much. The line to the beer tent compressed social distancing from the recommended 6 feet to about 6 inches. Hardly anyone wore masks. Yes, many were probably fully vaccinated, but that’s not protecting children.

(And for the record, as is our company policy, when I covered those events, I wore a face mask. I’m also fully vaccinated, so I don’t need to worry about getting sick if I get infected. My worry is that if I get infected I could spread the virus to those not yet vaccinated.)

A lot of Alaskans agree with Dunleavy and want the pandemic to be over. We’re getting fully vaccinated, with 47.7% of eligible Alaskans having received one dose and 40% fully vaccinated, so it must be done, right?

Some people don’t trust the vaccines proven to prevent serious illness or death from COVID-19. Curiously, many of the people resistant to vaccines also are against simple public health measures like wearing face masks indoors or where social distancing isn’t possible. Some people have turned public health into a political issue, elevating their individual rights above community health.

Aside from mass vaccination, and barring some miracle like a weak version of the coronavirus emerging and becoming dominant, we have only two ways out of the pandemic: let it run its course so that everyone gains some immunity or develop a drug that stops the virus in its track. Hoping you get immune from a bout of COVID-19 might seem acceptable until you consider that at worst you can die. Some survivors have suffered lingering effects like long COVID-19, where you’re so weak you can barely walk to the bathroom. We’ve developed good treatment for COVID-19, treatment that saved politicians from Dunleavy himself to Rep. Don Young, but it’s not a magic bullet.

The end of the pandemic is not a faith-based event where if you believe it’s over, it’s over. The pandemic is like gravity. If you jump out of a balloon high above the ground, you will hit the earth hard. We need the balloon to get closer to the earth — much closer.

How will we know when the pandemic is over? Writer Alexis C. Madrigal answers this question in a Feb. 23 article in Atlantic Magazine, “A Simple Rule of Thumb for Knowing When the Pandemic is Over.” He suggests that the pandemic will be over when it reaches the rate of seasonal flu, a viral event with illness and death in numbers we have come to accept. Some of the criteria are:

• When daily deaths nationally are 100 or fewer nationally;

• When diagnosed positive COVID-19 tests are 0.5 per 100,000 or less, about fewer than 2,000 cases a day nationally, and

• When the test positivity rate is less than 1%.

That’s the finish line for the pandemic. If we keep up practices like wearing face masks and social distancing, and work to get everyone possible vaccinated, we will end this long haul. Anything less drags out the pandemic, and that will mean sickness, death and more economic disaster.

Hang in there and finish the race.

Michael Armstrong is editor of the Homer News.

More in Opinion

A state plow truck clears snow from the Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Use of the brine shows disregard for our community

It is very frustrating that the salt brine is used on the Kenai Peninsula often when it is not needed

Therese Lewandowski. (Photo provided)
Point of View: Inflation, hmmm

Before it’s too late and our history gets taken away from us, everyone should start studying it

A cherished "jolly Santa head" ornament from the Baisden Christmas tree. (Photo provided)
Opinion: Reflections of holidays past

Our family tradition has been to put up our Christmas tree post-Thanksgiving giving a clear separation of the holidays

Screenshot. (https://dps.alaska.gov/ast/vpso/home)
Opinion: Strengthening Alaska’s public safety: Recent growth in the VPSO program

The number of VPSOs working in our remote communities has grown to 79

Soldotna City Council member Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL candidate forum series, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: I’m a Soldotna Republican and will vote No on 2

Open primaries and ranked choice voting offer a way to put power back into the hands of voters, where it belongs

Nick Begich III campaign materials sit on tables ahead of a May 16, 2022, GOP debate held in Juneau. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: North to a Brighter Future

The policies championed by the Biden/Harris Administration and their allies in Congress have made it harder for us to live the Alaskan way of life

Shrubs grow outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Vote yes to retain Judge Zeman and all judges on your ballot

Alaska’s state judges should never be chosen or rejected based on partisan political agendas

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Point of View: District 6 needs to return to representation before Vance

Since Vance’s election she has closely aligned herself with the far-right representatives from Mat-Su and Gov. Mike Dunleavy

The Anchor River flows in the Anchor Point State Recreation Area on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Help ensure Alaskans have rights to use, enjoy and care for rivers

It is discouraging to see the Department of Natural Resources seemingly on track to erode the public’s ability to protect vital water interests.

A sign directing voters to the Alaska Division of Elections polling place is seen in Kenai, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Vote no on Ballot Measure 2

A yes vote would return Alaska to party controlled closed primaries and general elections in which the candidate need not win an outright majority to be elected.

Derrick Green (Courtesy photo)
Opinion: Ballot Measure 1 will help businesses and communities thrive

It would not be good for the health and safety of my staff, my customers, or my family if workers are too worried about missing pay to stay home when they are sick.