Alaska Villages are Reaching Herd Immunity — Without a Single Case of COVID-19

Alaska’s unique geography and isolation have helped some of its villages thwart the pandemic with astonishing success, according to APM.

The state’s list of COVID-free communities includes at least 10 places, stretching from Pelican to the Aleutian Islands to deep in the Interior. In Southwest Alaska, where many communities have seen major outbreaks, officials at the regional tribal health care provider say six villages have nonetheless recorded no coronavirus cases at all.

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, said there’s a degree of luck playing into which villages have escaped the virus entirely. But she also sees “patterns of success” in ones that have kept numbers low.

Many of the villages without COVID-19 cases are Indigenous communities with vaccination rates far exceeding 50%, thanks to an aggressive statewide campaign by tribal health providers to deliver the shots.