CBJ clarifies testing recommendation related to bars, stands up temporary testing facility

Due to a number of cases being linked to a social gathering that included employees at Juneau bars, the City and Borough of Juneau and Public Health have recommended that anyone who socialized at a Juneau bar between a certain date range get tested for COVID-19 regardless of whether they have symptoms. CBJ wants to ensure the correct people are being tested, so here are some clarifications to this recommendation:

• The date range is a moving target as days pass. If you’re not experiencing symptoms and it has been 14 days since you socialized at a bar, you don’t need to get tested. That means, as of today (September 9), if you have no symptoms and you last socialized at a bar before August 27, you don’t need to get tested.
• If it has been 10-14 days since you visited a bar and you have no symptoms and you can practice strict social distancing until day 14, you don’t need to get tested (read what strict social distancing means here; scroll down a bit).
• By “socialized,” CBJ means you were in close proximity to other people not in your household, weren’t always wearing a mask, others near you weren’t always wearing a mask, and you were in that environment for an extended period of time (more than 15 minutes).

If, after reading through these clarifications, you fit the set of people recommended for testing, please get tested for COVID-19. For this testing effort, a temporary testing facility will be available outside of Centennial Hall this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (September 11-13) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. No appointment is necessary; just show up. Due to high demand so far, people should be prepared to wait.

As originally noted, if you have symptoms, you should get tested and isolate until you’ve received your results. If you’re not experiencing symptoms, you can continue to carry on as normal while practicing COVID-19 precautions (like social distancing, mask wearing, and good hygiene) before and after testing (unless you receive a positive test result).

Outside of this testing effort, if you have symptoms of COVID-19, even mild ones, at any time, call your primary healthcare provider or call the COVID-19 Screening Hotline at 586-6000, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily. Testing will be arranged if appropriate.