Citizens of the Kenai Peninsula,
We are the medical professionals who serve you in times of need. We each have dedicated our lives to taking care of our community and feel compelled to provide you with the following evidence-based update on our local public health situation regarding COVID-19.
As delta variant cases are declining in most other parts of the United States, the cases and deaths in Alaska have been rising substantially. We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented surge in cases statewide.
While we were leading in vaccination rates in the early days of the pandemic, today several hospitals statewide are now unable to care for everyone due to overwhelming numbers of patients. Unfortunately, that extends to those who need medical attention for COVID or any other reasons because of overcrowding due to the recent COVID surge. This has led to critical care triage being announced in Anchorage, which more strictly rations care than any physician would desire.
We recognize that there is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to COVID. At this time, however, available evidence overwhelmingly shows that vaccination is safe and reduces the risk of spread, severe disease, and death from COVID with limited side effects. As physicians we have overwhelmingly been vaccinated ourselves and feel that improving our community vaccination rate is a crucial factor in our ability to put this pandemic behind us. The research on this is sound, and after reviewing the evidence we as a medical community strongly endorse vaccination for all eligible patients 12 years and older with no identifiable contraindications.
Unfortunately, the delta variant has also changed the local situation substantially due to vastly increased rates of infection across all age groups. In solidarity with the CDC and multiple subspecialty guidelines, we also agree with recommendations for universal masking while local cases are high as a best practice to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and get back to our normal lives as quickly as possible.
We, the below named physicians and health care providers, stand together in support of this message.
Dr. Eric Anding
Dr. John Andreshak
Dr. Christopher Beaudoin
Dr. Bobbie Behrens
Dr. William Bell
Dr. Nicholas Berlon
Dr. Michael Blake
Dr. John Bramante
Dr. Amy Bukac
Dr. Andrew Butki
Dr. Robert Cadoff
Dr. Heather Callum
Dr. Elizabeth Cummings
Dr. Elizabeth Ehama
Dr. Maureen Filipek
Dr. Paula Godfrey
Dr. Craig Humphreys
Dr. Daniel Hyman
Dr. Kristina James
Dr. Kristen Jessen
Dr. William Kelley
Dr. Jesse Kincaid
Dr. Henry Krull
Dr. Kristina Lacy
Dr. Lori Lindsay
Dr. Isaac Lopez
Dr. Ned Magen
Dr. Jeff McDonald
Dr. Kristin Mitchell
Dr. Tyler Moffett
Dr. Gregg Motonaga
Dr. Darren Mullins
Dr. Gail Pokorney
Dr. Michael Reyes
Dr. Carolyn Roloff
Dr. Megan Roosen-Runge
Dr. Jessica Sieling
Dr. Allison Smith
Dr. Giulia Tortora
Dr. Christina Tuomi
Dr. Stephen Wahl
Dr. Rachel Walden
Dr. Angus Warren
Dr. James Zirul
EMS Captain Harrison Deever
Nurse Albi Tatum
Nurse Practitioner Ed Gonzalez
Nurse Practitioner Rachael Kincaid
Nurse Practitioner Carrie Warren
Physician Assistant Christine Pratt
Physician Assistant Susan Reed
Pharmacist Molly Hannigan
Pharmacist Meredith Mayfield
Pharmacist Justin Ruffridge
