ADFG: Hunters Should Adhere To Travel Mandates

The following press release is courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game:

(Juneau) – Health Mandate 012 – Intrastate Travel states, “all instate travel between communities, whether resident, worker, or visitor, is prohibited unless travel is to support critical infrastructure, or for critical personal needs.” The purpose of this mandate is to control the movement of individuals to communities within Alaska in order to prevent, slow, and otherwise disrupt the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Although travel between communities is prohibited under the health mandate, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game informs Alaskans that they may still travel to hunting areas. When traveling, everyone must follow these guidelines:

1) Try to find the resource you intend to pursue as close to your home residence as possible.
2) Before you leave, find and understand the local mandates in communities through which you plan to travel. You must abide by them.
3) Totally provision your trip from your community of origin. Don’t plan on buying food, drinks, or even fuel if possible, after you begin your trip and until you return home.
4) Wear face coverings as suggested in Health Alert 10 (issued April 3).
5) You are required to practice social distancing mandates with anyone not in your immediate household, including while traveling to and from your community to your hunting location. Avoid interacting with residents of communities through which you travel.

Adherence to these guidelines will allow Alaskans the opportunity to hunt and put food on their tables while taking measures to protect public health and allow time to build needed health infrastructure. Please adhere to these guidelines to ensure these opportunities can continue. Be safe and considerate of others.

The state of Alaska will be reevaluating Health Mandate 012 on April 21, 2020.
Health Mandate 12, including its attachments, can be found at gov.alaska.gov/home/covid19-healthmandates

FAQs specific to this mandate can be found at http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/default.aspx