The community of Stebbins has instituted tighter COVID-19 restrictions, including closing the road to St. Michael, after two new positive cases of the coronavirus were confirmed yesterday.

Norton Sound Health Corporation announced late last night that two Stebbins residents who were close contacts of a previous case of COVID-19 in the region, tested positive themselves.

The state Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing will conduct contact tracing, but NSHC believes these cases will likely be categorized as travel and secondary spread.

Once Stebbins’ leaders were notified of the two new cases, they implemented new restrictions such as a 9pm curfew, requiring proof of a COVID-19 test before flying into Stebbins, and closing the 12-mile road between their community and neighboring St. Michael for two weeks.

Community leaders previously closed the road about a month ago. But, just like the last time the road was closed, residents will be able to pick up groceries from the AC store at the border checkpoint (road block) between St. Michael and Stebbins.

With these latest two cases, there are now four active cases of COVID-19 in Stebbins. NSHC also previously reported that there is an estimated 30 close contacts from the original two cases.

For the Norton Sound region as a whole, there are 52 total cases, seven are active, and 45 are considered recovered.

Image at top: Newer homes built by the Stebbins Housing Authority on the edge of the community. Photo from Emily Russell/KNOM (2016).