Alaska visitors 14-day quarantine replaced with a COVID-19 test.

In a press conference on Friday, May 29, Governor Dunleavy of Alaska announced that Alaska will begin on Friday, June 5^th requiring that either (1) visitors arriving in Alaska by air be tested for COVID-19 within 72 hours before boarding their departure flight, or (2) be tested before leaving their arrival airport in Alaska (or self-quarantine for 14 days).

Visitors are asked to complete the testing before coming to Alaska and warned that testing after arrival in Alaska could result in a long delay at the airport. The test report must indicate negative for COVID-19

Testing in the arrival airport is intended to be opted only for cases where the arriving person has lost his test report or in event of some other unusual circumstance.

In addition to the COVID-19 test, visitors will be required to fill out a special form, which will be available on the internet.

Details of this requirement are still being worked out and will be ready to implement on Friday, June 5^th. Until that time, the 14-day quarantine, which was scheduled to expire today (June 2^nd), will remain in effect.

More information is expected to be available this week. Those planning a trip to Alaska soon, may want to investigate where they can be tested for COVID-19. The test is to be no more than 72 hours before the boarding time for your flight to Alaska and you will need the test results in hand when you get off the plane at your destination in Alaska. (My assumption is that the 72 hours is counted from the departure of the leg of your flight that lands in Alaska, for those that have connecting flights. But this is a detail that has not yet been published.)