Among Alaska’s major cities, Juneau has kept up some of the most restrictive protective measures throughout the pandemic. Now it’s relaxing the rules while it increases residents' access to things like masks and test kits.
At-home test kits available to the public at City Hall in Juneau. February 24, 2022. Among Alaska’s major cities, Juneau has kept up some of the most restrictive protective measures throughout the pandemic. Now it’s relaxing the rules while it increases access to public health tools for residents.
Even on this average day, lots of people drop by for supplies. Gabriel Quinones and Jamie Campbell came by for masks because they got too pricey on the internet.“We kind of go out a little bit more,” Quinones said. “But we’re still practicing most of the social distancing and precautions that we have taken since the COVID pandemic started.”
Juneau has hewn closely to CDC pandemic guidelines. But this month, the state’s pandemic poster child dropped mask mandates for vaccinated folks, and city officials say they’re envisioning a day when they relax regulations even further. “I think, overall, throughout this pandemic, we have been really fortunate to have typically lower case rates, lower hospitalizations, higher testing rates, and we have a really nice high vaccine rate locally as well.”