DHSS today announced 185 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 180 were residents in: Anchorage (88), Eagle River (18), Bethel (13), Kenai (8), Fairbanks (6), Homer (6), Palmer (6), Soldotna (6), Utqiaġvik (6), Wasilla (4), Chugiak (3), Juneau (2), North Pole (2), Sterling (2), and one each in Bethel Census Area, Girdwood, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kotzebue, North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic Borough, Prince of Wales-Hyder, Sitka, Sutton-Alpine, and Wrangell.
Five new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:
- Anchorage: one with purpose under investigation
- Kodiak: one in ‘other industry’
- Locations under investigation: three with purposes under investigation
Two resident cases were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 42,413 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,458.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 65.2 cases per 100,000. All regions in Alaska except one are in high alert status with widespread community transmission occurring.
High (>10 cases/100,000)
- YK-Delta Region: 158 cases per 100,000
- Southwest Region: 88.99 cases per 100,000
- Anchorage Municipality: 73.3 cases per 100,000
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 62.01 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 61.82 cases per 100,000
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 60.7 cases per 100,000
- Northwest Region: 58.85 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 35.03 cases per 100,000
- Juneau City and Borough: 16.97 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 15.02 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (> 4.8 – 10 cases/100,000)
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 8.96 cases per 100,000
CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 180 Alaska residents, 85 are male and 93 are female. 9 are under the age of 10; 22 are aged 10-19; 29 are aged 20-29; 26 are aged 30-39; 24 are aged 40-49; 37 are aged 50-59; 28 are aged 60-69; 4 are aged 70-79 and one is aged 80 or older.
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 917 hospitalizations and 183 deaths, with no new hospitalizations or deaths reported yesterday.
There are currently 121 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and six additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 127 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Thirteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 12.5%.
TESTING – A total of 1,196,506 tests have been conducted, with 26,983 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.73%.
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
BRING BACK THE LIGHT – Tonight at 5 p.m., come together with your fellow Alaskans to bring back the light! Shine your light from across the state to show gratitude and celebrate everything our community has done to come together this year. We look forward to celebrating with you at 5 p.m. Share photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #BringBackLight or #WithYou. www.facebook.com/events/374300443856257/
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. 19 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.
