DHSS today announced 157 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 153 are residents in: Anchorage (66), Fairbanks (23), Utqiaġvik (9), Palmer (8), Soldotna (6), Juneau (5), Kenai (5), Bethel (4), North Pole (4), Wasilla (4), Kotzebue (3), Chugiak (2), Cordova (2), Sterling (2) and one each in Chevak, Eagle River, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Kenai Peninsula South, Kenai Peninsula North, Kusilvak Census Area, Haines, Homer, Northwest Arctic Borough and Valdez.
Four new nonresident cases, all with purposes still under investigation, were identified in Anchorage (2), Kenai (1) and Unalaska (1).
Two resident cases have been removed from the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 10,028 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,011.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000 population, is high at 21.61 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:
High (>10 cases/100,000)
- Northwest Region: 36.97 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 35.31 per 100,000 population
- Anchorage Municipality: 28.95 cases per 100,000 population
- YK-Delta Region: 23.08 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 11.58 per 100,000 population
Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 9.42 per 100,000 population
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 9.13 per 100,000 population
- Juneau City and Borough: 8.71 per 100,000 population
- Southwest Region: 6.18 per 100,000 population
Low (<5 cases/100,000)
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 2.44 per 100,000 population
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 1.79 per 100,000 population
CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 153 Alaska residents, 78 are male, 74 are female and one is unknown. Ten are under the age of 10; 19 are aged 10-19; 27 are aged 20-29; 24 are aged 30-39; 14 are aged 40-49; 22 are aged 50-59; 18 are aged 60-69; eight are aged 70-79 and 11 are aged 80 or older.
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 331 hospitalizations and 60 deaths, with no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 5,284.
There are currently 44 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 15 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 59 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators.
TESTING – A total of 514,789 tests have been conducted, with 17,915 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.62%.
FAIRBANKS PIONEER HOME UPDATE – Since the last update on Oct. 6, an additional 20 residents and five staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. This brings the total number of cases at the Fairbanks Pioneer home since Sept. 21 to 29 residents and 24 staff. As of today, 25 residents and 10 staff members are active cases. No deaths have occurred; one resident is hospitalized. An isolation unit has been set up at the home so all positive residents can be cared for in one area by staff who have recovered and were cleared to return to work. Aggressive testing of residents and staff will continue.
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, it may take a day or two after receipt to get a report entered and counted. Extra personnel will 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 in the near future seem likely to remain at this level or higher.
This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 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. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.
