Three more people in Ketchikan have tested positive for the coronavirus. That’s according to statements from the local emergency operations center.
As of Monday afternoon, officials count five active cases in Ketchikan. All 30 previous cases in the First City have since recovered, according to the emergency operations center.
Of the cases announced Monday, one is a seafood processing worker. As part of the unspecified processor’s plan to deal with the pandemic, employees are tested at least twice after arriving from out of state — and in this case, the second test came back positive. It’s not clear whether that individual was still in quarantine when they got the positive result. Officials say the seafood industry worker has since been placed into isolation.
The other nonresident individual is in town for work in an unspecified industry. Officials have not released additional information except that the unnamed individual arrived Thursday, July 16 and was tested at a collection site outside Ketchikan’s airport. Officials say the new patient was instructed to quarantine after their test. They’ve since been told to isolate.
Neither of the two nonresidents are currently showing symptoms, according to the statements. Both are being monitored by state public health nurses.
The third case announced Monday is a Ketchikan resident. The individual sought testing after they came down with mild COVID-19 symptoms after returning from out of state Sunday. A spokesperson for Ketchikan’s emergency operations center says the individual declined to be tested at the airport and instead sought testing at a local clinic later that day.
The three new cases come as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. More than 30 people have tested positive at a seafood processing plant in Juneau, local officials said. And tests uncovered 85 coronavirus infections on a factory trawler that was docked in Unalaska this weekend.
More than 1,200 people are currently infected with COVID-19 across the state, according to state data.
This story has been updated
