At least 260 Alaska health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a recent report from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Nearly half said they have been exposed while at work, the report said. Those counted included "physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, nursing aides, EMTs, first responders, behavioral health professionals, and others working in inpatient and outpatient health care," while close to a third were listed more generally as working in health care. Eight of the 260 workers needed hospitalization. The state did not report any deaths among the workers. A fifth of the workers who got COVID-19 worked in hospitals, according to the report, while nearly a quarter worked in some sort of rehabilitation, assisted living or long-term care setting.  

PHOTOS: On Thursday September 24, 2020 at 2:50 pm the Bath Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched for a working structure fire at T&R Environmental Services Haz Mat building located next door to T&R Towing on Route 415 North of the Village of Bath. Large plumes of heavy black smoke could be seen for miles. Assistant Chief Sean Walruth was first on scene and immediately started calling for mutual aid tankers for water and manpower. In all 16 department were called to aid in our effort to bring the massive fire under control. Originally T&R's Haz Mat building was fully involved in intense flame and heavy black smoke. There were several large fireballs that went high into the sky from the barrels of oil that were exploding. Crews were set up to try to protect the T&R office and dispatch center and the Fred Roberts Auto Parts buildings located on each side of the Haz Mat building.  

VIDEO: Tamara Thacher is believed to have died from her job as a firefighter, years after running into burning buildings. Her memorial last December was a time of reflection, not just of her life and service but the illness that cut her life short. The Sacramento Fire Department said her cancer is presumed to be the result of exposure to toxic chemicals firefighters potentially encounter every day. "My goal is never to have another firefighter like Tami Thacher lose their life because of contracting cancer," Chief Gary Loesch explained. The department introduced two engines called Clean Cab Apparatus to help keep firefighters safe. The department estimates the Clean Cab Apparatus costs about $35,000 more than a truck without clean air modifications. The engines include hoses to rinse firefighters off and ventilated compartments to store contaminated equipment outside of the truck.  

The first study to analyze the structure of the novel coronavirus from two waves of infection in a major city found that a more contagious strain dominates recent samples, researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital said on Wednesday. They examined more than 5,000 genomes from viruses recovered in the earliest phase of the pandemic in Houston, an ethnically diverse city of 7 million, and from an ongoing more recent wave of infections. The study, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, found that nearly all strains in the second wave had a mutation, known as D614G, which has been shown to increase the number of "spikes" on the crown-shaped virus. The spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells, increasing the ability of the mutated virus to infect cells. The Houston researchers said patients infected with the variant strain had significantly higher amounts of the virus on initial diagnosis.  

Most people don't start a full-time career in their 60s. Lyle See isn't most people. At 80 years old, he's been an EMT for decades alongside a career in human resources and working as a firefighter. His first run was in 1962, shortly after he graduated from Olivet College, responding to the call of a woman with a heart issue. At that time, he didn't have equipment on the ambulance to save her life in time. "We had none of the technology," See said. That's changed over the intervening 58 years. "I have [the ability] now to have certainly gotten her to the hospital," he said. It's also become more in demand. Before the pandemic, it wasn't unusual for See to work 60 hours a week as he and his colleagues responded to increasing numbers of calls. See jokes that while he's working fewer hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, his wife, Judy, would "just as soon I wasn't doing any of this."