Earlier today Norton Sound Health Corporation announced three new cases of COVID-19 were found in the region. This brings the total to 15 active cases in the Norton Sound.
NSHC says one of the latest cases is a regional resident who tested positive through travel, the second is a health corporation employee who lives in Nome (the NSHC employee did not have any exposure to patients), and the third is a resident of Savoonga. According to NSHC, how the patient contracted the virus is unclear at this time, and they did not travel recently.
Separately, yesterday NSHC said that two other cases of COVID-19 were identified in the region. According to NSHC, one of those newest patients is a resident of Nome who is considered a close contact of a previously confirmed case. The other is a resident of a regional community, but NSHC did not say which village they are from.
The regional health corporation also did not mention how the patient contracted the coronavirus, but their local community leadership has been contacted. The State Section of Epidemiology and Public Health Nursing are aware of the two latest cases and will investigate them further.
Thus far in the pandemic, the Norton Sound has seen 308 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 293 of those are considered recovered while 13 are currently active in Nome and two are active in a regional village.
Image at top: Particles from the coronavirus. Photo in the public domain via Creative Commons
