DHSS today announced 206 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 203 were residents in: Anchorage (57), Fairbanks (32), Wasilla (27), Bethel (14), Bethel Census Area (13), North Pole (10), Palmer (8), North Slope Borough (5), Chugiak (3), Girdwood (3), Kenai (3), Ketchikan (3), Kodiak (3), Hooper Bay (2), Kotzebue (2), Seward (2), Sitka (2), Soldotna (2), Unalaska (2) and one each in Homer, Juneau, Kusilvak Census Area, Nikiski, Northwest Arctic Borough, Petersburg, Sterling, Tok, Utqiaġvik and Yakutat/Hoonah-Angoon.
Three new nonresident cases were identified yesterday with locations and purposes still under investigation.
Nine resident cases were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 47,006 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,554.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 36.22 cases per 100,000. Most regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Two regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission.
High (>10 cases/100,000)
- YK-Delta Region: 146.06 cases per 100,000
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 43.35 cases per 100,000
- Southwest Region: 36.58 cases per 100,000
- Anchorage Municipality: 36.27 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 34.26 cases per 100,000
- Northwest Region: 26.56 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 22.54 cases per 100,000
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 20.68 cases per 100,000
- Juneau City and Borough: 10.05 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 8.03 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 6.81 cases per 100,000
CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 203 Alaska residents, 103 are male, 98 are female, and two are unknown. 11 are under the age of 10; 23 are aged 10-19; 54 are aged 20-29; 34 are aged 30-39; 28 are aged 40-49; 20 are aged 50-59; 24 are aged 60-69; seven are aged 70-79 and two are aged 80 or older.
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,036 hospitalizations and 217 deaths, with 23 new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday.
There are currently 83 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 10 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 93 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Six of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 9.3%.
TESTING – A total of 1,302,859 tests have been conducted, with 24,949 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 5.16%.
COVID-19 VACCINATIONS – Reported to date, there have been 18,266 dose #1 COVID-19 vaccinations given in Alaska. For more information, visit the Vaccine Monitoring Dashboard.
ALASKA PIONEER HOMES UPDATE – Since the last update on Dec. 29, the Anchorage Pioneer Home identified one new case of COVID-19 in a staff member. The Fairbanks Pioneer Home identified two new cases in staff members. No residents have tested positive at either home and the other four homes in Juneau, Ketchikan, Palmer and Sitka have no cases.
TAKE ACTION – Vaccines are being distributed throughout 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: 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. When there is a high number of reports being received, this may cause 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.
This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 4. 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; weekly and daily case summaries are archived at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/communications.aspx#updates.
