Bronson's incompetence, not Assembly 'partisanship,' endangering public health & safety
The one constant in the Municipality since the beginning of the pandemic has been the ability to receive a relatively quick and drama-free COVID-19 test. The tests are essential not just for those Alaskans who travel (and many people do) but for the elderly, high-risk individuals, and those who wish to protect their families.
Anchorage's pro-life mayor refuses to acknowledge that COVID-19 hospitalizations among children in the lower 48 are soaring. As of January 4, an average of 768 children are hospitalized every day, and that number is rapidly increasing. Our elders, ages 60-69, are hospitalized at an alarming average of 2,967 every day as of January 4. Yet, as Omicron wrecks havoc on the east coast, perhaps signaling what lay in store for our state in a matter of weeks. Bronson's administration is choosing to play politics with a virus that lacks regard for one's political party.
Anchorage Assembly members, concerned about the health department's communication or lack thereof as it relates to the city's COVID-19 testing ability, are being labeled "partisan" by Anchorage's unvaccinated mayor for the high crime of daring to ask questions of the very department tasked with protecting public health and safety.
It's laughable in light of Bronson administration officials ducking out of an important health policy meeting.
Yesterday, Municipal Manager Amy Demboski ran defense for Anchorage Health Department Director Joe Gerace. She sent an email just before the health policy meeting stating that he had more than six hours of meetings scheduled for Wednesday and would not be in attendance. Yet none of those meetings conflicted with the health policy meeting. There wasn't even an Animal Control Advisory Board meeting scheduled.
Ultimately, not one member of the Bronson administration attended the critical committee meeting, telling the committee's Chair, Kameron Perez-Verdia, that they had "already provided enough information" about COVID-19 testing in Anchorage.
Even more concerning is that Demboski, in her email to the Assembly, asserted that the Municipality had at-home kits available for Anchorage residents free of charge.
Only a small number of kits are readily available across the city. That detail was confirmed at yesterday's ECHO meeting by state officials who told those tuned in to the meeting that kit availability was "scarce." While kits were available at the Fairbanks and Spenard centers yesterday, they were quickly distributed, leaving many disappointed and frustrated residents to complain on social media.
After announcing that testing kits would be made available at the Fairview and Spenard Recreation Centers today, the Fairview location ran out of kits before 1:00 p.m., and Spenard doesn't have them either.
People desperate for an at-home testing kit lined up outside the Salvation Army site today, well ahead of the site's 1:00 p.m. opening, for their chance at receiving a much-needed kit from Anchorage's Glorious Leader.
The temperature outside while they waited was a balmy -2 degrees.
I make it a point not to use the same language that the Municipal Manager, Save Anchorage member, and aggressive potty mouth Amy Demboski feels are appropriate when addressing members of the Anchorage Assembly. Still, there is no other word for it — it's a shitshow.
Anchorage residents who don't want to waste time and resources sitting in a PCR testing line for 2-3 hours are now scrambling around town looking for at least one non-expired kit, and few are readily available. People stand in lines subjecting themselves to below-freezing temperatures for a chance at receiving one.
These things should not be so.
Austin Quinn-Davidson, before leaving office, ensured that Anchorage had a robust COVID-19 testing system that served all people. The system functioned well and served the greater good, aimed at protecting our residents, our fragile healthcare system, and those who work within that system.
However, Mayor Bronson decided to "fix" a system that wasn't at all broken — a functioning system handed to him on a silver platter — leaving many to speculate that since taking office, Anchorage's unvaccinated mayor has been working diligently to end the pandemic by ending testing or at a very minimum, by making the testing process so incredibly frustrating that people give up. It's also not unreasonable to believe that his administration's push for at-home testing is a veiled attempt to obfuscate test positivity data as results from at-home testing kits are not centralized and therefore are not reported to the state.
Remember that, just like his idol, Bronson believes that he and he alone can fix all of Anchorage's troubles — just not with, you know, science and facts.
Of course, as an American, if you disagree with the Bronson administration's assessment that Anchorage's COVID-19 testing system is better than it was two months ago, you can always reach out to his office and make your voice heard.
