JUNEAU – Alaska’s mandatory COVID-19 border exams became optional on Sunday as a statewide COVID-19 emergency expired at midnight.
Governor Mike Dunleavy said the action at the airport is the biggest obvious change caused by the end of the emergency, but the state hopes to find new implications in the coming weeks.
One problem discovered last week: the end of the emergency means the loss of a third of the federal government’s $ 23 million monthly food stamp.
Alaska has been operating in a state of emergency since March 2020 and now becomes the only state other than Michigan to not have a COVID-19 emergency across the state, according to the National Governors Association. In Michigan, local authorities and the state health commissioner issued separate emergency statements to fill the gap, but much of Alaska lacks a local government with health powers, and the health commissioner here has no power to take action. generalized emergency services.
“Without a disaster declaration, we no longer have the authority to carry out mandatory tests,” said Commissioner Adam Crum of state airport impacts.
In force for almost a year, mandatory airport tests identified 2,355 positive cases of COVID-19, according to information provided to the Alaska Legislature earlier this month.
Although optional, the test is still recommended, and Crum said the screening queues at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and other state airports “would look exactly the same” today as they were during the emergency.
The state hired test teams until June 30, and the state has been working on new instructions for those teams since Friday night, Crum said.
Heidi Hedberg, director of the Alaskan Public Health Division, said it was important for people to take advantage of optional testing to let the state know when and whether new variants of COVID will arrive in the state. These variants can spread more easily than older strains.
“The importance of keeping these variants out of our state for as long as possible is really critical,” said Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s medical director.
To that end, the state is making airport testing free for everyone, Alaskans and tourists. Previously, travelers arriving in the state without prior testing had to pay $ 250 to take the test at the airport.
In addition to the disappearance of mandatory examinations, Alaskan travelers no longer need to isolate themselves five days after arriving in the state. Social distancing is still recommended, but it is no longer mandatory.
COVID-19 sorting station for air travelers entering Alaska at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Monday, June 22, 2020. (Bill Roth / ADN)
Alaska has been operating under a state emergency order since March 11, 2020, when Dunleavy declared the COVID-19 pandemic serious enough to justify the suspension of state laws and the imposition of various public health orders. At the time, the Alaskan Legislature agreed to this assessment, extending the emergency until November.
But in the fall of 2020, the legislature had no votes to call for a special session and Dunleavy refused to order lawmakers to attend. Instead of letting the emergency expire, Dunleavy issued a new 30-day disaster declaration, then repeated his act in December and January. This kept the state’s public health mandates running.
The January declaration expired at midnight on Sunday, after a dysfunctional Alaskan legislature failed to renew it. Dunleavy, who said that an extension would be up to lawmakers, declined to issue a fifth emergency statement.
“The governor said for weeks that he will not extend the statement while the legislature is in session,” said Dunleavy spokesman Corey Allen Young. “Only he has the power to extend. Several lawmakers also claimed that the 30-day statements were unconstitutional ”.
Although lawmakers questioned the legality of the governor’s previous actions, they urged him to act unilaterally this time. Thirty-five of the 40 members of the Alaskan House signed letters asking the governor to issue a new statement, and the Alaskan Senate voted in favor of a resolution asking the governor to act because it was not possible.
Speaking on Sunday, Dunleavy said previous extensions made sense because the legislature was not in session, the case count was increasing rapidly and the state’s medical system was stressed. Now, the case count is dropping and the legislature is in session, which means that the issue was up to state legislators.
“We are confident that, even without the declaration, that the tools we have available, the systems are in place … we believe we have what we need now to overcome this,” he said.
Deputy Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, watched Dunleavy’s speech and pointed out a flaw in that argument: if the governor believes his government can handle an emergency, why did he propose an extension and why did state officials testify that it was necessary ?
Dunleavy said that if circumstances change or “if we find a flaw in the program, if we find a problem with the system … we will fix it”.
Although the state chamber is disorganized, Dunleavy said he was confident that the legislature could provide “quick action on one or two items” to resolve the problems.