Norton Sound Health Corporation has identified two new positive cases of COVID-19 in regional residents on top of the eight already active in Nome.

NSHC announced yesterday the latest individual to test positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus is a resident of St. Michael. The regional health corporation believes this case is travel-related. The State Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing will conduct further investigation and contact tracing in this case.

In a separate announcement Tuesday, NSHC identified a resident from Brevig Mission who had contracted COVID-19 earlier in the week.

Following that positive test result and the possibility of community spread of the virus, NSHC and Brevig’s leaders are encouraging all local residents to hunker down for two weeks. The individual who tested positive is also an employee of Norton Sound Health Corporation in Brevig Mission.

As a result the village health clinic in Brevig is temporarily closed, except for urgent or emergency care.

Currently there are ten active cases of COVID-19 in the Norton Sound. A total of 286 confirmed cases in the region, with 276 of them considered recovered.

Image at top: Particles from the coronavirus. Photo in the public domain via Creative Commons (2020).