There are now ten active cases of COVID-19 in the community of Gambell after Norton Sound Health Corporation announced yesterday that five new patients had tested positive.

According to NSHC, four are residents of Gambell and they are believed to be connected to the original cluster of six cases from last week. Health officials have not yet identified the origin of the virus in the St. Lawrence Island community’s cases.

NSHC currently has additional staff in Gambell to provide community-wide testing for COVID-19 and to help distribute flu vaccines.

The regional health corporation is recommending anyone in the Norton Sound region, who has not been tested in the last month, receive a COVID-19 test in Nome or at their local village clinic.

In the same announcement yesterday, NSHC identified a fifth new case of the virus within the Norton Sound. The latest patient to test positive for COVID-19 is a nonresident of the region who tested as part of the City of Nome’s travel-related mandates.

This individual is currently self-isolating and is believed to have had no close contacts. The State Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing will investigate all five new cases and conduct contact tracing.

Norton Sound now has 70 total cases of COVID-19.  58 of those are considered recovered, while 12 are currently active.

Image at top: Particles from the coronavirus. Photo in the public domain via Creative Commons.