The magnitude of America’s contact tracing crisis is hard to overstate
These essential programs are getting creative to overcome funding shortages, testing delays, case surges, and public distrust.
Between a sweep of mountains and an expanse of dark waters, a 14-story building looms over Prince William Sound. Most of Whittier, Alaska’s 280 residents live in the peach-colored confines of Begich Tower, which was built in 1956 as a U.S. Army barracks. The building has its own post office and grocery store. An underground tunnel leads to the town’s small school. “We are our own petri dish—we share the same ventilation system,” says Jim Hunt, the city’s manager.
When COVID-19 reached the state, controlling visitors was the town’s best hope of keeping the disease at bay—and for months, they did. There are only two ways to reach Whittier: By boat, or driving the 60 miles from Anchorage, passing through a
