The Alaska National Guard has not been activated to help law enforcement activities, according to a release from the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Inaccurate text messages have been circulating about the National Guard’s role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a release shared Friday evening. The messages were sent to the Alaska Covid-19 Unified Command and are similar to fraudulent messages being shared on a national level.
Requests from communities for COVID-19 support must be made through the State Emergency Operation Center, which coordinates the emergency response effort for the Unified Command, according to the release. The decision to activate forces would be made by Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, under the order of Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
“Alaskans should be commended for the way they have responded to the difficult social distancing measures we have asked of them. With few exceptions we have seen voluntary compliance with the necessary closures that our health experts recommended,” said Bryan Fisher, incident commander for the SEOC and Unified Command, in a release. “Frankly, I never doubted that Alaskans would pull together as they have.”
