DHSS today announced 649 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 640 were residents in: Anchorage (269), Wasilla (75), Kodiak (34), Fairbanks (33), Palmer (33), Bethel (22), Kusilvak Census Area (20), Soldotna (20), Eagle River (18), Utqiaġvik (13), Chugiak (11), Kenai (9), North Pole (9), Juneau (8), Homer (6), Bethel Census Area (5), Sitka (5), Fairbanks North Star Borough (4), Kenai Peninsula South (4), North Slope Borough (4), Sterling (4), Big Lake (3), Matanuska-Susitna Borough (3), Nome (3), Skagway (3), Chevak (2), Girdwood (2), Kenai Peninsula North (2), Willow (2), and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Anchor Point, Cordova, Denali Borough, Delta Junction, Dillingham Census Area, Healy, Fritz Creek, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Nikiski, Northwest Arctic Borough, Unalaska, Yukon-Koyukuk-Census Area and one in an unknown location. 

Nine new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Fairbanks: two with purpose in mining
• Anchorage: two with purpose under investigation
• Wasilla: one with purpose under investigation
• Kodiak: one with purpose under investigation
• Eagle River: one with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: two with purposes under investigation

Three resident cases were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 39,738 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,405.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 85.79 cases per 100,000. All regions in Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission occurring.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 172.66 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 133.55 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 112.23 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 88.55 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 83.09 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 65.88 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 59.36 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 44.17 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 23.22 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region – Northern: 21.3 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region – Southern: 13.98 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 640 Alaska residents, 324 are male and 311 are female and five are unknown. 52 are under the age of 10; 72 are aged 10-19; 102 are aged 20-29; 130 are aged 30-39; 99 are aged 40-49; 95 are aged 50-59; 55 are aged 60-69; 20 are aged 70-79 and 15 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 869 hospitalizations and 175 deaths, with three new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday.

There are currently 130 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and nine additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 139 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Fifteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 13.6%.

TESTING – A total of 1,143,098 tests have been conducted, with 35,396  tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 5.61%. 

TAKE ACTION to protect yourself and others: coronavirus.dhss.alaska.gov

Notes: Cases reported to the Section of Epidemiology are increasing. Reports are received electronically, by phone and by fax. Cases are verified, redundancies are eliminated and then cases are entered into the data system that feeds into Alaska’s Coronavirus Response Hub. Because of the number of reports being received, there have been delays in getting reports entered and counted. Extra personnel continue to focus on the effort to process and count reports and minimize the delay from receipt to posting on the Hub. Daily case counts seem likely to remain at this level or higher for the near future.

This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 12 that posted at noon today on the Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub. There is a lag between cases being reported on the DHSS data dashboard and what local communities report. Each case is an individual person even if they are tested multiple times. Total tests are a not a count of unique individuals tested and includes both positive and negative results. The current number of hospitalized patients represents more real-time data compared to the cumulative total hospitalizations. Current hospitalizations are reported for all facilities, not just general acute care and critical access facilities, as is the default on the dashboard. Total number of hospital beds available fluctuate daily as the number of available hospital staff changes. All data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.

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