JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - John Waghiyi remembers rushing his cousin to the clin ic in the Bering Sea city of Savoonga in December, wor ried he was having a possible heart attack while out butchering a bowhead whale. Waghiyi arrived to see elders waiting in the lobby for a COVID 19 vaccine. Waghiyi, 66, said he joined them and got a shot before returning to the coast to help finish the whale harvest. Elders, he said, have set the tone in the Alaska Native community of 735 on the coast of isolated St. Lawrence Island. Vaccination rates for eligible residents 16 or older are among the region's best, with over 80% having had at least one dose, according to the regional tribal health cor poration. "We live for our children. We want to bring that sense of normalcy back in our lives," he said, adding that protecting the community "needs to be No. 1." Alaska's highest vaccina tion rates have been in some of its remotest, hardest to access communities, where the toll of past flu and tuber culosis outbreaks hasn't been forgotten. With the COVID 19 pandemic, health officials say local leaders have helped share information, and they cite the importance of resi dents getting shots from providers they know and at convenient locations, includ ing their homes and grocery stores. Tribal health organiza tions had flexibility in decid ing how best to distribute vaccine allocations they received from the federal Indian Health Service. And they played a significant role in Alaska's overall vaccine rollout, sharing doses with outside communities and in some cases expanding eligi bility faster than the state. Logistics have at times been challenging. In Tanana, in Alaska's remote interior, temperatures were so frigid earlier this year the plane a health team flew in on to vac cinate more than 100 people would not start, said Dan Nelson, pharmacy director with the Tanana Chiefs Conference's Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center. A backup plane also wouldn't start, and a third plane had to be sent to pick up the team so it could visit another community the next day "at 40 below," he said. Nelson said health care staff called thousands of resi dents in his organization's coverage area, to answer questions and help schedule appointments. He said Tanana Chiefs Conference planned to rely on the one dose Johnson & Johnson vac cine for some rural commu nities, citing in part the logis tical ease over the two dose vaccines, but said officials would reevaluate that with the recommended pause on its use by federal health agencies to allow time to review rare blood clot cases. In Mekoryuk, an Alaska Native community of about 205 people in the Bering Sea, nearly all residents eligible for vaccines have gotten one, according to the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp., the regional tribal health organi zation. The corporation chief of staff, Dr. Ellen Hodges, credits well known mother and daughter health aides who worked to build commu nity confidence in the vac cine. In White Mountain, an Alaska Native community of 200 east of Nome accessible in the winter only by air or snowmobile, health officials report over 90% of eligible residents have gotten vacci nations. There are signs life is creeping toward normal after what felt like the "longest winter ever," said Dan Harrelson, a City Council member and village public safety officer. Open gyms have resumed at the school, allowing kids and adults to escape the cold to play bas ketball or volleyball. The regional air carrier has elimi nated testing requirements for those fully vaccinated. "We're so anxious for this to pass," Harrelson said of the pandemic. "Our patience is wearing thin a little bit." The Norton Sound Health Corp., with a hospital in Nome and 15 clinics across western Alaska, has given away prizes to further encourage vaccinations. Winnings included airline tickets, money toward a four wheeler, and $500 for gro ceries or fuel - huge in iso lated places where gas can top $6 a gallon, four wheel ers can outnumber cars and basic necessities cost a pre mium because of shipping. But not all villages are the same, and tribal health offi cials say they are encounter ing some of the hesitancy reported in other parts of the state. Misinformation or unan swered questions could be factors in a slowdown in the Bering Strait region served by the Norton Sound Health Corp., spokesperson Reba Lean said. She said the corporation has probably reached every one "who was willing to be swayed" by prizes, and offi cials are trying to determine how best to reach others. Kivalina, a community with fewer than 500 people at the tip of a barrier reef in northwest Alaska, saw a rash of COVID 19 cases this year. Only 20% of its eligible resi dents have had at least one vaccine dose, according to Maniilaq Association, a tribal health provider. Lucy Nelson, mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough, which covers an area the size of Indiana and includes Kivalina, in an email said out reach across the region has been positive. Some people don't want a vaccine, which she said is their right. But she said officials are trying to provide incentives in hopes it will have a "domi no effect." An order currently in place allows nonessential travel within the borough for vaccinated people and exempts them from quaran tine requirements after they return from outside the bor ough. Some are taking a stronger approach. Bering Straits Native Corp., an Alaska Native corporation, is requiring its employees, including those who work for its subsidiary businesses, to be vaccinated. The corpora tion headquartered in Nome cited the "painful scar" left on the region by the flu epidem ic a century ago that "nega tively affected our Native cus toms and traditions in ways that endure to this very day." It noted accommodations could be made for those with documented medical con cerns or religious objections. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said there would be "no statewide mandate to compel employees to have vaccines." The Republican has called vaccination a personal deci sion but encouraged Alaskans to get inoculated. "Each vaccinated person gets us one step closer to put ting the pandemic behind us and getting back to living life freely like we did before COVID 19," he said. Back in Savoonga, Waghiyi is hopeful for the future. Waghiyi, who is St. Lawrence Island Yupik, said the pandemic prevented his family from having a recep tion or doing a traditional dance as part of the healing process when his daughter died last year. This month, he attended the funeral of another rela tive, "and we danced for the first time in over a year." As more people are vacci nated, he sees more custom ary aspects of life returning. "By god, we do need that sense of normalcy in our lives," he said.
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DETROIT (AP) - Two federal agencies are sending teams to investigate the fatal crash of a Tesla near Houston in which local authorities say no one was behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday they will send investigators to Spring, Texas, to look into the fiery Saturday night crash. Two men were killed. Investigators are "100% sure" that no one was driving the Tesla that missed a curve on a residential road, hit a tree and burst into flames, killing two men inside, Harris County Precinct Four Constable Mark Herman said. But they're still trying to determine whether the elec tric car was operating on Tesla's Autopilot driver assist system, or if the com pany's "Full Self Driving Capability" system was in use. One of the men was found in the front passenger seat of the badly burned car, and the other was in the back seat, Herman told The Associated Press Monday. "We are actively engaged with local law enforcement and Tesla to learn more about the details of the crash and will take appropriate steps when we have more information," NHTSA said Monday. Investigators are in the process of getting several search warrants seeking evi dence in the crash, but Herman would not say if those warrants are directed at Tesla. He said he didn't know if investigators had spoken with the Palo Alto, California, electric vehicle maker. Also, investigators are working with NHTSA and the NTSB, both of which investi gate serious auto crashes. Tesla has had serious problems with its Autopilot partially automated driving system, which has been involved in several fatal crashes where it didn't spot tractor trailers crossing in front of it, stopped emer gency vehicles or a highway barrier. The NTSB has recom mended that NHTSA and Tesla limit the roads on which the system can safely operate, and that Tesla install a more robust system to monitor drivers to make sure they're paying attention. Neither Tesla nor the agency took action. A message was left Monday morning seeking comment from Tesla, which did away with its media rela tions department. The com pany has said in the past that drivers using Autopilot must be ready to intervene at any time. It says the "Full Self Driving Capability" system can't drive itself and also must be continually moni tored by drivers. Investigators haven't determined how fast the Tesla was driving at the time of the crash, but Herman said it was a high speed. He would not say if there was evidence that anyone tampered with Tesla's system to monitor the driver, which detects force from hands on the wheel. The system will issue warnings and eventually shut the car down if it doesn't detect hands. But critics say Tesla's system is easy to fool. KHOU TV reported that the car was a 2019 Tesla Model S, and the two men found in the car were aged 59 and 69. Herman said the car went about 100 feet after running off the road, hit a tree and immediately caught fire. Firefighters, he said, used at least 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames fed by the car's lithi um ion battery, he said. Firefighters at the scene con tacted Tesla for advice on how to extinguish the blaze and were told just to let it burn out, Herman said. The Harris County crash is the 28th to which NHTSA has sent investigators during the past few years. On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the com pany had released a safety report from the first quarter showing that Tesla with Autopilot has nearly a 10 times lower chance of crash ing than the average vehicle with a human piloting it. But Kelly Funkhouser, head of connected and auto mated vehicle testing for Consumer Reports, said Tesla's numbers have been inaccurate in the past and are difficult to verify. "You just have to take their word for it," Funkhouser said, adding that Tesla doesn't say how many times the system failed but didn't crash, or when a driver failed to take over. Shares of Tesla Inc. fell 3.6%, more than the broader markets, to $712.95 in after noon Monday. That decline follows enormous gains for Tesla, whose shares are up 370% in the past 12 months.
2 U.S. Agencies Send Teams To Probe Tesla Crash With No Driver
This Feb. 9 photo shows a sign bearing the company logo outside a Tesla store in Cherry Creek Mall in Denver.
Photo by As ociated Pres
Remote Alaska Villages Boast High Vaccination Rates
In this undated photo, provided by Paul Apfelbeck, community health aide Nicole Gregory (R) admin- isters a COVID-19 vaccine to Virginia Johnston at the Yukon-Koyukuk Elder Assisted Living Facility in Galena, Alaska. Alaska's highest vaccination rates among those 16 or older have been in some of its remotest, hardest-to-access communities, where the toll of past flu or tuberculosis outbreaks hasn't been forgotten.
Photo by As ociated Pres
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