Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer, called in to a special meeting of the Wrangell Borough Assembly last Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, to give a brief update on the COVID-19 situation across the state. In her update she said that she is "cautiously optimistic" about the future, with vaccinations being rolled out and a slowdown in rising case numbers.

"Across the state, as a whole, we're starting to see a tentative decline in the acceleration, which has been fantastic," she said. "We are cautiously optimistic, I guess is how I would phrase it, about the numbers."

Their optimism is on...