DHSS today announced one death of an Alaska resident and 339 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 333 were residents in: Anchorage (137), Wasilla (40), Bethel (33), Fairbanks (18), Soldotna (13), Palmer (10), Kodiak (9), Utqiaġvik (8), Eagle River (7), North Pole (7), Kenai (6), Bethel Census Area (5), Juneau (5), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (5), Ketchikan (3), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula (2), Chugiak (2), Delta Junction (2), Homer (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), North Slope Borough (2), Seward (2), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (2), Sterling (2), Tok (2) and one each in Anchor Point, Chevak, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Kusilvak Census Area, Nikiski, Sitka and Willow.
Six new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:
- Anchorage: two with purpose under investigation
- Utqiaġvik: one with purpose under investigation
- North Slope: one with purpose under investigation
- Locations under investigation: two with purpose under investigation
Three resident cases were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 42,235 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,453.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 70.24 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: 160.17 cases per 100,000
- Southwest Region: 97.39 cases per 100,000
- Anchorage Municipality: 78.88 cases per 100,000
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 73.68 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 63.83 cases per 100,000
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 63.27 cases per 100,000
- Northwest Region: 62.75 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 37.47 cases per 100,000
- Juneau City and Borough: 17.2 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 14.67 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 8.96 cases per 100,000
CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 333 Alaska residents, 186 are male and 147 are female. 19 are under the age of 10; 43 are aged 10-19; 72 are aged 20-29; 67 are aged 30-39; 43 are aged 40-49; 42 are aged 50-59; 31 are aged 60-69; eight are aged 70-79 and eight are aged 80 or older.
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 917 hospitalizations and 183 deaths, with seven new hospitalizations and one new death reported yesterday. The person who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 50s. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.
There are currently 126 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and eight additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 134 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Thirteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 14.6%.
TESTING – A total of 1,193,118 tests have been conducted, with 28,200 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 5.24%.
TAKE ACTION – Vaccines have begun arriving in Alaska but we all still need to maintain our COVID-19 protective measures to keep ourselves and others safe and healthy: 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. 18 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.
