Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said in a municipal address about coronavirus in the community Friday that there are plans to amend the local hunker-down order that currently expires on April 14.

"The reason it went until April 14 is that that was the extent that the Assembly authorized," Berkowitz said. "We're going to go back and ask them to extend it significantly past that period of time.

"The orders that bring the emergency into reality," he said, "we're going to have to figure out exactly how long they're going to last."

Berkowitz said the municipality is waiting to obtain more information about how long the emergency orders can last. He added that the more that's known about the disease and the extent of it, not only in Anchorage but across Alaska, the more able he and his team will be to figure out the severity of restrictions implemented in order to best protect public health.

He also talked about the three new COVID-19 cases that were released by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Friday. Berkowitz said the lower number of cases in Anchorage is a sign that the emergency orders are working, but that the people of Anchorage can't relax and need to continue to maintain social distancing and staying home as much as possible.

Another thing the mayor touched on in his briefing is the resources small businesses can use to help them get through these economically tough times in the pandemic.

Those include getting your stimulus check by filing your taxes, and three different federal options: the Paycheck Protection program, an express bridge loan program and the economic injury disaster loan program.

More information on all of those programs can be found

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Berkowitz says the municipality is providing refunds for vendors that aren't able to operate this summer.

He also said the municipality is postponing property tax collections, postponing business property tax collections, and is using the 49th State Angel Fund in ways so they can provide small business loans.

This is a developing story. Please check back for details.