The state health mandate requiring out-of-state travelers to quarantine for 14 days before interacting with the public was extended to June 2, said Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum announced Monday at a press conference in Anchorage.<\/p>\n
Members of the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly had previously expressed concern about the mandate’s previous expiration date, May 19. Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon last week sent a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, asking him to extend the mandate.<\/p>\n
“While Juneauites have moved cautiously with you to gradual ‘re-opening,’” Weldon wrote in her May 14, <\/a>letter<\/a>, “the community and the Assembly remained concerned about the prospect of lifting interstate travel restrictions.”<\/p>\n As an isolated community, Juneau and other Southeast towns are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection coming from out of state travelers.<\/p>\n In an interview Monday morning, City Manager Rorie Watt told the Empire the extension was welcome news.<\/p>\n “The Assembly will be happy he extended, that was the big issue for all of us,” Watt said.<\/p>\n Watt said the mayor and the Assembly were concerned with expanding the city’s testing capability before lifting the mandate.<\/p>\n