Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools Update:
100% Remote Learning extended for 13 KPBSD schools in the southern peninsula due to continued rising positive cases of COVID-19

Today school district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team determined that with the continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, contact tracing information from public health and DHSS, an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.

The 100% Remote Learning in the southern peninsula (Homer area) is extended an additional week, through Wednesday, October 28, 2020. A further determination of a possible additional extension will be made at that time.

NOTE: Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, 2020, are parent-teacher conferences, with no school for students or Get-It-And-Go Meals. Schools will be directly communicating their plan for conferences to families.

What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk

• Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
• Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on October 29-30, 2020, during parent teacher conference days
• Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
• ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations

Thirteen Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status
KPBSD schools in Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Susan B. English in Seldovia are considered individually, and remain open to onsite at-school learning at this time.

• Chapman School
• Fireweed Academy
• Homer Flex School
• Homer High School
• Homer Middle School
• Kachemak Selo School
• McNeil Canyon Elementary School
• Nikolaevsk School
• Ninilchik School
• Paul Banks Elementary School
• Razdolna School
• Voznesenka School
• West Homer Elementary School

Central Kenai Peninsula Schools Update:
100% Remote Learning extended for 17 KPBSD schools in the central peninsula due to continued rising positive cases of COVID-19

Today school district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team determined that with the continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, contact tracing information from public health and DHSS, an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.

The 100% Remote Learning in the central peninsula is extended an additional week, through Wednesday, October 28, 2020. A further determination of a possible additional extension will be made at that time.

NOTE: Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, 2020, are parent-teacher conferences, with no school for students or Get-It-And-Go Meals. Schools will be directly communicating their plan for conferences to families.

What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk

• Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
• Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on October 29-30, 2020, during parent teacher conference days
• Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
• ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations

Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status

Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:

• Aurora Borealis Charter School
• Kaleidoscope Charter School
• K-Beach Elementary School
• Kenai Alternative School
• Kenai Central High School
• Kenai Middle School
• Mountain View Elementary School
• Nikiski Middle-High School
• Nikiski North Star Elementary School
• Redoubt Elementary School
• River City Academy
• Skyview Middle School
• Soldotna Elementary School
• Soldotna High School
• Soldotna Montessori Charter School
• Sterling Elementary School
• Other North: Tustumena Elementary School

This Bahamian Rotarian has been a whirlwind of energy since he began volunteering in high school.

by Anne Stein                   Photo by Lyndah Wells Photography

Growing up in Nassau, Bahamas, Roosevelt Rolle Jr. remembers how his parents extended a hand to neighbors who needed food or to friends who were without a place to stay. In high school, Rolle joined Interact, and after college, the Rotaract Club of Freeport. “My love for Rotary grew another notch,” he says, “because we had so much fun and we did a lot of volunteer work in the community.”

After three years in Rotaract, Rolle took a year and a half off from Rotary. “I wanted to be a little more professional and make sure I was mature enough,” he recalls. Christine van der Linde, his boss and a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, had a suggestion: She and several other Rotarians were forming a new club and thought Rolle would be a great fit. “It was a match made in heaven,” he says. On 24 June 2019, the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama chartered with 20 members, including Rolle, then age 29.

The club was barely two months old when, on 1 September 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas, causing billions of dollars in damage. “We had a bunch of new Rotarians and we were so excited to get involved in projects,” recounts Rolle. “Dorian became our project.”

Rolle and his fellow Rotarians gathered on Saturdays to sort and distribute food. The Rotary Club of Grand Bahama remained involved in the relief work until January.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rolle and his club turned to projects such as providing meals for hospital workers. He’s taking the lessons he learned from his parents and making service central to his life.

• This story originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.

Beginning Wednesday, October 14, 2020,
17 KPBSD schools in the central peninsula will shift to 100% Remote Learning, and operate in High COVID-19 Risk (Red)

The school district leadership and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team discussed the high positive case count today of +14 COVID-19 cases in the central peninsula, the 7-Day trend, information from public health and DHSS, and determined the data merits immediate action for schools. Therefore, central peninsula schools will shift to 100% Remote Learning immediately, beginning Wednesday, October 14, 2020.

The 100% Remote Learning in the central peninsula will be for a minimum of one week. Today, DHSS stated that Alaska is experiencing an accelerated phase of COVID-19 spread.
Positive cases are reported daily in KPBSD schools and in the past few days in the central peninsula alone, between Nikiski Middle-High School, Nikiski North Star Elementary, Redoubt Elementary, and Skyview Middle School, contact tracing has placed over 63 staff and students in isolation or a 14-Day Quarantine.

“The decision to operate central peninsula schools in High COVID-19 risk, with 100% Remote Learning, is not only to address concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, but as a school district we play an important role to help our communities mitigate positive COVID-19 spread. By shifting to 100% Remote Learning during periods of high community spread, we lessen the number of large groups of people in one location. Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week. My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as Monday, October 26, 2020. We will all know more in the next week as the state catches up with a backlog of positive test results. I sincerely apologize for the strain this puts on families, students, staff, and businesses in an already stressful pandemic.”

Superintendent John O’Brien

What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk

• Schools will contact their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
• Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on Friday, October 16, 2020—it’s an inservice day for staff, no school for students
• Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools will contact these families directly
• ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations. Only state level competitions are approved at this time

Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status

Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:

• Aurora Borealis Charter School
• Kaleidoscope Charter School
• K-Beach Elementary School
• Kenai Alternative School
• Kenai Central High School
• Kenai Middle School
• Mountain View Elementary School
• Nikiski Middle-High School
• Nikiski North Star Elementary School
• Redoubt Elementary School
• River City Academy
• Skyview Middle School
• Soldotna Elementary School
• Soldotna High School
• Soldotna Montessori Charter School
• Sterling Elementary School
• Other North: Tustumena Elementary School

What you can do

We urge Alaskans to exercise caution and take the following steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands

• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings

• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble

• Limit your errands and outings

• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms

• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately

• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others

• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days

*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels
To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:

• Analyze the 14-Day positive COVID-19 case counts
• Analyze the 7-Day positivity trend
• Consult with public health contact tracing knowledge, and local medical providers
• Review the KPBSD COVID-19 Positive Case in a School Decision Matrix

Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team watches positive cases closely, types of community spread, and offers informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.

Helpful Links

KPBSD COVID-19 Hub or covid19.kpbsd.org

KPBSD COVID-19 risk level dashboard

Behind every one of these statistics is an individual. We're saddened by every death and our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of these individuals who died. 

DHSS is aware that the topic of how COVID-19 deaths are counted generates a great deal of interest. This webpage should answer some of your questions.

Current process

By health care facilities

The first is from reporting by health care facilities. Because COVID-19 is a reportable infectious condition, hospitals report cases of COVID-19 directly to the Division of Public Health’s Section of Epidemiology. Later, if those hospitalized patients pass away, those deaths are also reported. 

The benefit of this method is real time reporting. The state has the ability to report the death within days of the death occurring. However, this method may not capture deaths because of the time lag associated with COVID patients who may remain hospitalized for a longer period of time, have a more complex disease and death process, or died outside of Alaska. Further, this more real-time method means that deaths have not yet undergone review by CDC.

Through death certificates

The second process is through death certificates and their review by CDC. Every death in the state, and of out of state Alaska residents, results in the production of a death record. A death record contains the who, what, when, and where of a death. The cause of death section of a death record provides the ‘why’. A death record is registered by the Division of Public Health’s section of Health Analytics and Vital Records (HAVRS). The cause of death language is de-identified and forwarded to CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). There the cause of death language is coded by nosologists (professional trained to classify disease) using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) medical classification. Once coded, the data are sent back to HAVRS. These data essentially serve as the final cause of death description.

The benefit of reporting deaths that moved though the NCHS process is these data represent the most accurate death counts. The cause of death statements have undergone review and have been coded - coded as U07.1. However, a death certificate takes an average of 9 days from the death to be registered by the state. This is before the NCHS review. The disadvantage is a delay of one to three weeks for data review and return to the state. The data lag means NCHS provisional death counts may not reflect all deaths reported by the State during a given time period, especially for more recent periods.

Data corrections

Finally, data corrections may change death counts. On occasion a death record needs a correction that may change the death counts. An example might be the original death record had an incorrect state of residence. Generally, upon discovery, corrections are handled by a state’s vital records office and the updated data are provided to NCHS if necessary.

The Death Certificate process

The federal government has worked with states to collect and standardize death reporting since the early 1900s. Cause of death and a decedent’s demographics are first recorded onto a death record. Death records are administered by the vital records program in the state where the death occurred. A death record is first filled out by a funeral director; the cause of death section is provided by a medical professional; and final registration is completed by a state’s vital records office.

CDC considers “Cause of Death” to be a best medical opinion. CDC wants the cause of death to come from medical professionals.

People can die from more than one cause. CDC reporting conventions allow a death certificates to capture the many conditions that contribute to a person’s death. The Cause of Death section on a death certificate has two parts:

• Part I is the chain of events –the diseases, injuries, or conditions that directly cause the death. There are four lines available, ‘a’ through ‘d’.

  • Line ‘a’ is reserved for the immediate cause of death. The immediate cause of death is the final disease or condition that resulted in death. 

  • Line ‘b’ (and ‘c’ if necessary) are reserved for intermediate causes of death. The medical professional outlines the logical sequence of causes, or etiology that leads from the underlying cause of death to the immediate cause of death. Sometimes, there is no intermediate cause of death.

  • The last line available is reserved for the underlying cause of death. This is the disease or injury that initiates the chain of events leading to the immediate cause of death.

• Part II is where a medical professional may enter any medical conditions that contributed or exacerbated, but did not cause, the death.

Note that for a death by a virus, if the symptomology and circumstances are compelling, and the medical professional is convinced a specific virus caused the death, NCHS will accept a cause of death certification without laboratory confirmation. Again, CDC is looking for a medical opinion. CDC does, however, encourage confirmation of viral deaths with testing.

After a death record has been certified, the cause of death section is forwarded to CDC’s NCHS. NCHS nosologists review the data, determines its accuracy, electronically and manually code the deaths using ICD-10 classification, and report back the final and coded cause of death to the states. Nosology is a branch of medicine that deals with classification of disease. To become competent takes many years of training. This process has in place since the 1980s for all causes of death.

Dying from a condition versus dying with a condition

In the semantics of health researchers, dying from something means a condition is the underlying or contributing cause.

Consider the case in the example above. The immediate cause of death is a rupture of the myocardium, preceded by an intermediate cause acute myocardial infarction, preceded by an intermediate cause of coronary artery thrombosis, preceded by an underlying cause of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. If a researcher were asked the cause of death for this individual, they would be correct to say either a rupture of the myocardium, a heart attack, a blocked artery, or hardening and narrowing of the arteries. If a researcher were performing a study on heart disease, this case would be counted. If a researcher were making an annual count of deaths from hardening and narrowing of the arteries in general, again this case would be included. On the other hand, if the researcher was developing a year-end report of leading causes of death, they would just report the underlying cause.

If a decedent had listed an immediate cause of death of stroke, that was a complication from an intermediate cause of blunt force trauma to the head, which had the underlying cause of a vehicle crash; a researcher would be correct in saying this individual died from a stroke, a head injury, or a car crash. Stroke and the head injury would be considered contributing causes associated with the underlying cause of a car crash.

On the other hand, if an individual died in a car crash also happen to test positive for COVID-19, COVID-19 would not be listed on the death certificate and the death would not be considered a COVID-19 death. This would be a case of dying with a disease. In this case, the death certificate would only list the sequence of conditions associated with the vehicle crash.

All reported Alaska resident COVID-19 deaths have the virus listed as a condition in Part I or Part II. A death where COVID-19 is listed in Part II might be considered as a contributing cause depending on how CDC nosologists interpret the cause of death provided by the medical professional. Most Alaskan deaths have listed COVID-19 somewhere in the lethal chain of conditions within Part I. However, if Alaska receives the coding of a COVID-19 death from CDC, even from Part II, we will report it.

Epidemiological significance of reporting COVID deaths

Whether COVID-19 shortened a life by 15 years or 15 minutes; whether COVID-19 is an underlying or contributing condition, the virus was in circulation, infected an Alaskan, and hastened their death. This must be reported.

Despite Alaska’s COVID-19 deaths, we should note that Alaska’s per capita death rate from COVID continues to be lower than almost every other state. Alaska’s overall mortality rate is also lower than most other states. According to JAMA, Alaska has had no estimated level of excess deaths during the COVID time period of March 1 2020 to May 30 2020.  This conclusion is echoed in Alaska’s own look at excess mortality. So far, researchers have not found any unexpected increase in death counts or rates relative to recent years.

Where can I find COVID Death Data?

You can find counts of COVID-19 deaths on the Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.  On the COVID-19 Cases Dashboard, you can find the count of death that can be shown for Alaska residents (including AK residents diagnosed and isolated OOS), non-residents, or for both residents and non-residents diagnosed and isolated in Alaska.  The “Cumulative Deaths” graph on the COVID-19 Cases Dashboard reflects the date when a death was confirmed by the State, not when the death occurred.  “Table 1. Cases by Report Date” of the summary tables also shows a count of deaths; however, this table reflects deaths by the date when the case was confirmed COVID-19 positive, not by the date that the case was reported dead.

© Westend61 - Getty Images The signs of COVID-19 can go beyond a fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Here, doctors explain the mild symptoms of novel coronavirus you shouldn’t ignore.

• Fever: This is by far the most common sign of COVID-19, and is defined by having a temperature of 100.4° F or higher.
• Cough: Experts say patients typically develop a dry cough, meaning you’re coughing but nothing is coming up, like phlegm or mucus.
• Shortness of breath: This symptom often presents in more advanced cases and can range in severity. Some people simply feel winded by otherwise normal activities, while others end up having trouble breathing on their own. “It feels like you’re not getting enough air,” says David Cutler, M.D., a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.

• Fever (87.9%)
• Dry cough (67.7%)
• Fatigue (38.1%)
• Sputum production (33.4%)
• Shortness of breath (18.6%)
• Sore throat (13.9%)
• Headache (13.6%)
• Muscle aches and pains (14.8%)
• Chills (11.4%)
• Nausea or vomiting (5.0%)
• Nasal congestion (4.8%)
• Diarrhea (3.7%)
• Coughing up blood (0.9%)
• Red eyes (0.8%)

• Trouble breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion or inability to arouse
• Bluish lips or face
• Other severe or concerning symptoms (like a fever that won’t die down)

• You don’t have a fever for at least 72 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.
• Your symptoms have improved.
• At least seven days have passed since you first had symptoms.

• You no longer have a fever without the use of fever-reducing medication.
• Your symptoms have improved.
• You received two negative tests in a row, 24 hours apart.