I am not an official spokesperson for the people of Bristol Bay by any means, but I can assure you that the majority of us feel this way.
We have a prime example out here of “what not to do” during a coronavirus. We have a dozen-plus processing plants that exist because they process salmon in a remote area. Their workers eat, sleep and work inches from each other all day long. There is no way to change that process in a short period of time. We keep being told by our various government entities that the processors are coming up with plans to deal with this. I have read those plans, and if that is what we have to look forward to, we will be the perfect “petri dish” for a medical experiment.
If there is some reason why we think that all of the pre-preparing is going to keep the virus out, we better take a closer look at history. You cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. Look at the meat-processing plants around the country; they are a prime example. Hundreds of people sick and dying. The difference being that the salmon processors are together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for weeks if not months. Someone will bring in the bug, and when that happens, God help us, because it will spread like wildfire.
This means that the local residents will have to hunker down and stay out of our communities for the summer season. By no means are we doomsday people, but we have heard the stories from our grandparents about the 1919 flu pandemic that almost wiped out the area, and it concerns us very much. We see the exact same thing happening all over again and somehow people think that it is going to turn out differently.
Keep us all in mind as this goes forward. It didn’t work the last time and will not work this time without a lot more thought and upfront work than we see.
— Gene Sanderson
Naknek
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