Corralling COVID-19: Alaska sets a high bar for COVID-19 testing.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: HEALTHCARE SPECIAL SECTION

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, cities and states across the nation were scrambling for everything from information and general guidance to personal protective equipment and testing kits. As it continues to spread, more and more importance has been placed on testing as a way to both identify those with COVID-19 and to begin the contact tracing process.

Despite its size and the fact that many cities and villages are in remote locations, Alaska has excelled at implementing a testing protocol and making it accessible to the public. There are 175 testing offices throughout the state--from single sites in villages such as Ninilchik, Dim, and Unalakleet to roughly two dozen sites within the city of Anchorage. Working together, everyone from the Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS) to municipalities, tribal health services, hospitals, and drug stores have stepped in to make sure that testing is easy and available to those who need it.

"I am very proud of the work we have done together, from our healthcare partners to DHSS and others," says Audrey Gray, lead public information officer of the Anchorage Emergency Operations Center. "We are a well-tested community, which is assisting us in identifying cases early to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in our community."

The state has been so effective, in fact, that it was featured in a September 2020 Wall Street Journal article touting it as one of the most comprehensive COVID-19 testing operations in the nation.

Into the Fray

While no one could have predicted how fast the virus would spread across the world and particularly across the nation, DHSS and its community partners geared up early to get testing sites operational.

"In the very beginning, the state was the only entity that had tests; they received the tests from the CDC, and they did all of the specimen testing at their Fairbanks and Anchorage labs," says Michael Bernstein, chief medical officer of Providence Health & Services Alaska. "Not long after, a number of commercial labs in the US developed their own tests, and we were able to get some of those at hospitals that had testing equipment.

"Initially, the only way to get access to a test was to go to our emergency room, but we realized very quickly as we began seeing more people who needed tests that it was a very poor use of our ER," he continues. "We were getting overwhelmed."

Providence, which is the largest healthcare provider in the state, was contacted by Dr. Anne Zink, DHSS' chief medical officer, who asked about the feasibility of setting up a drive-through testing center on hospital-owned property that was not currently in use.

"We quickly did some remodeling and established a drive-through, and for a period of time, we were the only drive-through center," says Bernstein...