COVID-19 and Arctic Search and Rescue, our Duty to Act

Community volunteers help move a patient to a field hospital as part of the Arctic Chinook Exercise in Kotzebue, Alaska. Photo: Benjamin Strong

With the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the world has found itself in a global health emergency, which has caused a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and brought normal life around the world to a halt for the better part of a year. The Arctic Institute’s COVID-19 Series offers an interesting compilation of best practices, challenges and diverse approaches to the pandemic applied by various Arctic states, regions, and communities. We hope that this series will contribute to our understanding of how the region has coped with this unprecedented crisis as well as provide food for thought about possibilities and potential of development of regional cooperation.

The Arctic Institute COVID19 Series 2020-2021

• COVID-19 in the Arctic: The Arctic Institute’s Winter Series 2020-2021
• COVID-19 and Arctic Search and Rescue, our Duty to Act
• Vulnerable Communities: How has the COVID-19 Pandemic affected Indigenous People in the Russian Arctic?
• Brazilians in the Arctic: A Global Experience with Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• COVID-19’s Impact on the Administration of Justice in Canada’s Arctic
• Isolation and Resilience of Arctic Oil Exploration during COVID-19: Business as usual or Structural Shift?
• COVID-19: How the Virus has frozen Arctic Research
• Rethinking Governance in Time of Pandemics in the Arctic
• Russia’s COVID Blinders: Arctic Policy Changes or Lack Thereof
• Geography of Economic Recovery Strategies in Nordic Countries
• Fly-in Fly-Out Workers in the Arctic: The Need for More Workforce Transparency in the Arctic
• Measures Taken by the Canadian Coast Guard to Respond to the Pandemic in the Canadian Arctic
• COVID-19 in the Arctic: Final Remarks

On March 24, 2020, Ms. Dana Tulis, Chairperson of the United States National Search and Rescue Committee and the United States Coast Guard Director of Emergency Management, issued a letter to all United States State, Tribal, Territory/Insular area search and rescue coordinators recognizing the challenge Covid-19 placed on search and rescue (SAR) authorities and their ability to render assistance to persons in distress on land and sea.

The letter was in response to local authorities unwilling to allow a ship into port with a critically ill crewmember suffering from Covid-19 symptoms. The bottom line is, refusing to help persons in distress is not an option.

There are multiple instruments that mandate search and rescue, within the United States and internationally. The International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual, Volume 1, the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (also known as the SAR Convention) 1979, the Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic, and various domestic and bilateral agreements all align in the same unity of effort; that SAR is an obligation that must be carried out.

Historically, SAR in the Arctic has been plagued by challenges such as poor communication networks and a lack of SAR assets in the North. You can add public health emergencies to the list of emerging challenges to SAR authorities. For example, Joint Rescue Coordination Center North Norway has five SAR helicopters for an area that stretches from 66 degrees north to the North Pole or more than 880,000 square kilometers. Imagine a passenger or commercial ship incident requiring a helicopter evacuation of multiple sick patients. Now, consider transferring those patients to the local hospital in Longyearbyen, Norway with its six beds. Local health systems will quickly become overwhelmed, treatment facilities may become contaminated, and SAR responders and assets must be taken out of service for quarantine and disinfection. That possibility, however, does not relieve us of our duty to act.

The SAR system cannot succeed if we shirk our humanitarian responsibility to provide aid to those in distress. Coordinating our efforts will help to protect SAR responders, patients, and the community. Shipping companies, SAR authorities, public health authorities, and local communities must work together to prepare for the eventuality of Covid-19 being introduced from tourists or crewmembers from the sea.

A good example of a coordinated response to Covid-19 in the Arctic occurred on April 16, 2020, when the American Triumph, a 241-foot fish processing trawler, arrived in Dutch Harbor, Alaska with seven crew members exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19. All 119 crewmembers were tested, and an additional 79 crew tested positive for Covid-19. The local health service had to coordinate charter flight medical evacuation of the uninfected crew members while the sick remained on the ship. The ship, with medical personnel aboard, sailed to Seward, Alaska where the ill crewmembers were able to disembark and were transported to an Anchorage isolation facility.

In a press release, Erin Reinders, Unalaska City Manager, said, “My sincere thanks goes out to all those who worked collaboratively to help ensure the safety of both the crew and our community. There is no better reminder that we truly are all in this together”.

Does SAR need to evolve to include pandemic or public health response? Yes, at all levels of the response. SAR responders come prepared with their own surface or air resources, trained clinicians, and advanced diagnostic equipment. The key to successful SAR in Covid-19 or other public health emergencies is engaging local communities and ensuring they are fully prepared to receive persons with infectious diseases. Training, equipment, and trust between SAR responders and local communities will help ensure future health emergencies in the Arctic are managed properly with limited exposure to the local population.Despite its remoteness, we have been unsuccessful in stopping the pandemic from reaching the Arctic. We must continually evaluate the risks to responders and receiving facilities. Coordination between SAR responders and local communities is key to mitigating those risks and ensuring the best assistance is rendered to those in distress at sea, even if those persons are suffering from an infectious disease. Saving lives, protecting our citizens and emergency responders must be planned, coordinated, and conducted as a whole of government solutions.

Benjamin Strong is the chairperson of the Search and Rescue Expert Group, part of the Arctic Council Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group.