Administration officials go into hiding as Bronson's testing façade nears collapse
Bronson administration officials scurried into hiding this morning after refusing to attend today's Anchorage Assembly Health Policy Meeting.
Neither Anchorage Municipal Manager Amy Demboski nor Anchorage Health Director (AHD) Joe Gerace attended the important committee meeting, telling the committee's Chair, Kameron Perez-Verdia, that they had "already provided enough information" about COVID-19 testing in Anchorage.
In addition, and perhaps rather incredibly, Bronson's administration opted not to have any representation present at the meeting even as concerns over COVID testing mount and new daily case counts rise.
Demboski and Gerace's impromptu decision not to attend the meeting was announced after the Assembly had placed a COVID-19 Testing Policy onto the agenda.
Anchorage residents have expressed alarm and frustration in light of assertions made late last evening by AHD Director Joe Gerace, who stated that "the current covid testing in the city of Anchorage really is in a better place than it was two months ago."
Posts and comments shared across social media by Alaska residents have called BS on Gerace's seemingly disprovable claim, with many recounting their experiences of arriving at COVID testing locations listed as open only to find them closed. Others, such as Alaska Public Media reporter Kavitha George, said on Twitter that she had sat in her car for hours waiting for a COVID test.
As recently as yesterday, more people claimed that wait times at the Change Point testing center were over two hours long and that people waiting in line to get a COVID test had exited before obtaining one. Anchorage residents, faced with inaccurate information about location hours and long lines at testing centers, have called on the Bronson Administration for a more robust testing program.
Anchorage resident Sara Dykstra wrote on Twitter that she had waited in line for a PCR test at the C street COVID testing center for nearly two hours, where only two staff members were said to be working. She claimed there were at least 45 cars in the line behind her and that employees told her she had received the last two tests. Dykstra wrote that the UAA site had a closed sign-up at 8:30 a.m. She noted this contradicted the information provided on the Muni's website, which indicated the testing center should have been open by 8:00 a.m.
Anchorage resident Brandy Davenport, writing on social media, also took issue with AHD Director Gerace's assertion testing was better.
"I got tested previously at Loussac before they closed them down. Had about 20 cars ahead of me and was done within 40 minutes. Today I literally sat at Ak Airlines Center for THREE hours! It was sooo slow. At one point I didn't even move at all for over 45 minutes."
Anchorage resident Nick Gray wrote on Facebook that the nearest location he could receive a PCR test in the entire Fairview and Mountain View area was nearly 52 blocks away.
Gray asked whether this was an "intentional" decision made by the Bronson administration.
Gray also claimed in his post that at-home COVID test kits handed out at the Fairview Recreation Center around December 30, 2021, had a listed expiration date of January 2022 and wondered whether the accuracy of the test might be affected given the expiration date.
Photographs of testing kits Anchorage residents people received on or around December 30, 2021, were supplied to The Blue Alaskan and appear to show that some of the kits are indeed set to expire this month.
The Anchorage Health Department wrote on Facebook yesterday that they had "requested" 25,000 at-home testing kits from the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services. The department did not indicate whether their request would be honored or when the 25,000 kits were expected to arrive for distribution.
During today's Alaska DHSS weekly Public Health and Science ECHO, it was stated that at-home COVID test kits were scarce. However, it was noted that some testing kits were expected to be made available today at both the Fairview and Spenard Recreation Centers.
In a statement made to Twitter today, former Acting Anchorage Mayor Austin-Quinn Davidson wrote that as Anchorage's formerly first-rate COVID testing system falls apart under new leadership, she was reminded of a statement made by David Bronson in September of 2020.
"I know how to end this epidemic or this pandemic; stop testing. We won't have any more cases," said Bronson.
"Finally, a campaign promise kept," Quinn-Davidson wrote.
Today, Alaska DHSS announced 1,597 new COVID cases in the state over the past two days, with 658 of those cases reported in Anchorage.
The results of at-home testing kits being heavily pushed by the Bronson administration are not reported to the state, raising questions about the accuracy of new case count data.
Alaska's test positivity rate was 14.6% today, up from 12.8% on Monday.
