On-site COVID-19 testing at Alaska airports has caught just over 6,000 COVID-19 cases since it began in early June of 2020.<\/p>\n
The program to test travelers, which will stop at Alaska airports at the end of January, detected 40 COVID-19 cases across nine airports during the week of Dec. 12, according to data from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.<\/p>\n
Currently, molecular testing is offered in at least nine airports across Alaska.<\/p>\n
The state is now “working on a plan” to offer antigen — or rapid testing — to inbound travelers at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Fairbanks International Airport and Juneau International Airport, DHSS communications manager Elizabeth Manning said in a Dec. 23 email.<\/p>\n
Manning said antigen testing is more widely available, cost-effective and easy to use. The department encourages testing before and after travel or after attending large group gatherings if symptoms develop or exposure to someone who is COVID-positive is known.<\/p>\n
COVID-19 testing will continue at community sites throughout Alaska, Manning said, which are similarly shifting to more accessible and affordable testing materials.<\/p>\n
“We’re continuing to work with many partners statewide to ensure accessible and convenient testing for Alaskans,” Manning said.<\/p>\n
More information about COVID-19 testing can be found at dhss.gov.<\/p>\n
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The program to test travelers will stop at Alaska airports at the end of January. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":80023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[703,800,230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-80022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80022"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=80022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}