OVERVIEW – 78 new cases | 0 deaths | 20 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: intermediate | 47.4% of Alaskans vaccinated
TAKE ACTION – Choosing to get vaccinated is the single most important action you can take to protect yourself and your community and to reopen our economy. Learn more about the CDC’s recommendations for fully vaccinated people at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.
NOTE: Vaccination rate data will not be updated on today’s Alaska COVID-19 Information Hub dashboard. The rates below are current as of May 17, 2021.
VACCINATIONS – 53.1% of Alaskans age 16 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.
47.4% of Alaskans 16 and older have been fully vaccinated. The higher the vaccination rate, the more protected community members are from COVID-19. See below for percentages of all fully vaccinated Alaskans age 16 and older by region:
- Juneau Region: 68.6%
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 66.4%
- YK-Delta Region: 63.2%
- Northwest Region: 52.1%
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 51.2%
- Southwest Region: 50.9%
- Anchorage Region: 50%
- Other Interior Region: 49.4%
- Kenai Peninsula Region: 40.9%
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 40.2%
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 32.5%
For more information about vaccines, visit covidvax.alaska.gov.
Please note, the data team continues to work to resolve issues on the vaccine dashboard that result in mismatched data between the gauges and counts and the data referenced on the census area and borough map. This may result in unexpected fluctuations from day-to-day, but we anticipate resolution by the end of this week.
CASES – DHSS today announced 78 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 78 were residents in: Anchorage (19), Fairbanks (12), Ketchikan (9), Hooper Bay (7), Wasilla (7), Delta Junction (3), Homer (3), Metlakatla (3), Eagle River (2), Healy (2), North Pole (2), Palmer (2), and one each in Big Lake, Kenai, Kodiak, Salcha, Seward, Sterling, Willow.
Two resident cases were added and one nonresident case was subtracted from the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 67,043 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,792.
HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,552 resident hospitalizations and 362 resident deaths, with four new hospitalizations and no new resident deaths reported.
There are currently 20 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 23 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Two of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 1.8%.
TESTING – A total of 2,212,533 tests have been conducted, with 21,844 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 1.69%.
Variants of concern situation summary
B.1.1.7 (52 added since last report)
- Seeing this variant widely in Alaska (and the nation)
- Anch, Mat-Su, Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks/Interior, Southeast
- (Northern case was associated with non-Northern region exposure)
- Continue to see new importations (e.g., cases associated with travel out of state)
- Also seeing some instances of secondary and community spread
P.1 (3 added since last report)
- One FAI (out of state travel)
- One Anchorage (out of state travel)
- One Palmer (no obvious travel; doing a bit more investigation)
B.1.351 (1 added since last report)
- JNU (out of state travel)
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is intermediate at 9.95 cases per 100,000. Four regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission; five regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission; and two regions are at low alert with minimal transmission.
High (>10 cases/100,000)
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 57.82 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 16.91 cases per 100,000
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 11.85 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 11.54 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)
- YK-Delta Region: 8.53 cases per 100,000
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 7.39 cases per 100,000
- Anchorage Municipality: 7.34 cases per 100,000
- Juneau City and Borough: 6.74 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 6.65 cases per 100,000
Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)
- Northwest Region: 3.69 cases per 100,000
- Southwest Region: 3.48 cases per 100,000
