By AlaskaWatchman.com

Anchorage’s Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson will not rescind her COVID mandates until 70% of Anchorage is vaccinated.

Anchorage Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson

In imposing the vaccine requirement through Emergency Order 20, Quinn-Davison urged city residents to apply pressure on family, friends and neighbors so that Anchorage can open for the summer.

“The way we get there is through vaccines,” she said during the April 12 press conference. “Vaccines are what give me hope.”

To date, only 35.5% of Anchorage residents – ages 16 years and older – are deemed “fully vaccinated,” meaning they have either two doses of the Pfizer or Maderna shots or one of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The acting mayor dismissed concerns that there may be vaccine “hesitancy,” and instead focused on her theory that people just don’t have enough access. Her aim is to make a community-wide push in April and May to get to the 70% goal.

Until that occurs, Quinn-Davidson will impose the following on Anchorage residents:

  • Individuals must continue to mask and physically distance in public.
  • Outdoor gatherings and sporting do not have capacity limits and food and drink are allowed, but masking and physical distancing requirements remain in place.
  • Indoor gathering limits remain in place – 25 people if there is food or drink, 35 without food or drink.
  • Ballrooms, conference rooms and meeting spaces can have up to 140 people so long as distancing is maintained between tables.
  • Restaurants, gym, entertainment venues, bars can remain open with masking and physical distancing.
  • There can be four spectators per athlete for indoor sports.

Only two reporters asked questions during the virtual press conference. One person asked if the acting mayor was worried about being able to attain the 70% mark given that vaccination rates have slowed in Anchorage despite widespread availability for anyone over age 16.

“Yes, it’s attainable,” Quinn-Davidson replied. “We know that this is up to the public and the public can do the right thing.”

She emphasized the importance of community-wide messaging, including putting pressure on others who have not been vaccinated.

“Talking with our friends and family and neighbors and maybe even having some hard conversations about how important getting vaccinated is – I think the more we do that the closer well get to that 70 percent,” she said. “I think It’s important to remember how much impact we all have on our peers.”

Quinn-Davidson then shared a personal story about how she and her “wife” convinced a friend into getting the COVID shot, saying they would love to have her over for dinner once she was vaccinated.

She also noted how influential people in the community, like pastors, can help persuade the unvaccinated to get the shots.

Increasingly, local and state governments are using “incentives” to increase vaccination rates. The State of Alaska recently issued tips for nurses and educators on how to persuade people with religious arguments.

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Sticks & Carrots: Acting Mayor won’t nix COVID mandates unless 70% of Anchorage is vaccinated

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


17 Comments

  • SHAUNA HOWELL says:

    Where do they come up with these ratios. Four people per athlete. That is interesting. As for the rest of this… I don’t tell her what to do in her household and I am fine not coming over for dinner. So we are good. Come on Bronson, you can’t get elected fast enough!

  • Ross Perrine says:

    So one rat says to the other “have you gotten the vaccine yet” and the other replies, “are you crazy, they haven’ completed the trials on humans yet!”

  • Barbara says:

    “Acting Mayor” AQD, we live in America where we currently have freedom. The freedom to say that we don’t want something. Stop shoving stuff in our face saying we will get our freedom back if we get vaccinated. Some of us are in the age range that the shot makes us very, very sick. So, I’m so sorry (not really) that I don’t want the shot. I am sick and tired of you, and everyone else that’s not me, telling me I have to wear a mask and socially distance. I am not sick and if I was, as a responsible adult, I would be staying home, because I HAVE A BRAIN!!!! Stop treating us all as if we are infants that are too stupid to function on our own.

    • Michael S Totten says:

      Nobody can take your freedom. You have to willingly give it up. Ask any veteran who went to war. Do you think they bow to these little wanna be dictators? Noope! When smoke their asses

    • MICHAEL HUGHES says:

      Unfortunately, the vast majority of people, anywhere, will always follow whatever they are told by “authorities”. Even in the American Revolution only 30% of the population were actively involved (an other 30% supported the British and 40% did not get involved). This is human nature…
      I have tried to get my, mostly conservative, friends to get involved on some level and NONE of them are interested enough to do anything. So, we are going to loose everything if we, the minority, don’t continue to fight. AND, we have to start using the same tactics of intimidation the other side does.

  • Michael S Totten says:

    Hmm I like how the editors remove my comments when they’re not favorable to the wanna be communist fake mayor. I hope lesbo quinn rots in hell

  • Steve Peterson says:

    Could you have even imagined several years ago that Anchorage would be under the control of a tyrant, and that people would go along with it?

  • Proud Alaskan says:

    Sheep Sheep Sheep
    Are you F kidding me
    Get a life people move on, this is Ridiculous

  • G Aleution says:

    Somebody please get a job description of the arresting police officer and security guards. Mr. Torchetti’s right to unlimited freedom of speech ti address Anchorage public employees in a meeting to accommodate that unlimited speech was violated. THERE MUST BE REMEDY OR PAYMENT FROM WHOMEVER DID THAT. VIOLATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION ARE NOT ALLOWED IN ANCHORAGE ALASKA.

  • MICHAEL HUGHES says:

    The number of people that have had covid, 29,000, multiply that by 2 (the CDC estimates there are 4X that number due to a lot of people having no symptoms and not being tested, so I am being conservative by the estimates) – 58,000. Then add that to the number of those who have been partially or fully vaccinated (108,000), and there are +166,000 people who have either had the virus or vaccinated. That is 60% of Anchorage’s population. This is a low estimate, if the CDC is correct, and you multiply those who have had asymptomatic covid by a factor of 4 (29,000 x 4 = 116,00) and add that in you get 224,000 people who have either had it or been vaccinated (or have their 1st dose). That is 81% of the population! So, why isn’t she using the science?