Keep up with preventative care, Chief Medical Officer urges

Gov. Mike Dunleavy held a press conference on Monday where Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink urged people to maintain regular health care routines. In her presentation, she said there has been a concerning decrease in regular health maintenance and childhood immunizations.

"This isn't just about COVID, this is about overall health and I just want to take a few minutes to encourage people to get the really important preventative care that needs to be done," Dr. Zink said.

Childhood immunizations are particularly important Zink said because we don't want another outbreak after the pandemic. There has been a 50% decrease in immunization doses according to records kept in Alaska's Immunization Information System. In April of 2019 over 31,000 doses were administered compared to less than 16,000 this year.

Dr. Zink says that babies are also still in need of regular immunizations during this pandemic. Several providers are offering telehealth appointments that would allow people to get the medical advice they need while staying socially distant.

You can watch the live stream with the governor