OVERVIEW – 1,526 new cases | 13 deaths | 20 hospitalizations | 64.7% of Alaskans 5+ vaccinated
WEEKLY UPDATE – Starting Wednesday April 6, DHSS will update all COVID-19 dashboards weekly on Wednesdays. This change is part of our transition toward longer-term data reporting. Because there can be substantial day-to-day variation in data, weekly reporting is generally more helpful for understanding trends. Weekly updates are also consistent with changes being made on a national level and by other states.
For the latest on COVID-19 in Alaska, read the DHSS weekly update and DHSS data summaries: https://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/clinicalupdate.aspx
Note: Protective measures against the Omicron variant remain the same as for the other COVID variants. Layering protective measures, including masking, handwashing, physical distancing, and testing help to reduce transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Using a self-test before and after travel and large gatherings is advised. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) encourages Alaskans to talk with a healthcare provider or call 907-646-3322 about getting the COVID-19 vaccine to reduce the severity of illness if they haven’t already done so and to get boosted if eligible.
To check variant data for Alaska, please check the Alaska Coronavirus Variants Dashboard at akvariants.github.io.
TAKE ACTION – Choosing to get vaccinated is the single most important action you can take to protect yourself and your community and to keep our economy strong. Learn more about the vaccines at covidvax.alaska.gov and the CDC’s recommendations for fully vaccinated people at cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html. Vaccine is now available for ages 5 and older.
VACCINATIONS – These rates cover all Alaskan residents including those reported by the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration (DoD/VA).
71.8% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.
64.7% of Alaskans 5 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 ages 5 and older by region.
- Juneau Region: 80.4%
- Y-K Delta Region: 77.8%
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 74.8%
- Anchorage Region: 71.3%
- Southwest Region: 69.9%
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 68.1%
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 66.3%
- Northwest Region: 62.8%
- Other Interior Region: 60.1%
- Kenai Peninsula Region: 50.2%
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 43%
CASES – DHSS today announced 1,526 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.
1,505 were residents of: Aleutians East Borough (5 in 2 communities), Aleutians West Census Area (1), Anchor Point (14), Anchorage (466), Bethel (40), Bethel Census Area (24 in 6 communities), Bristol Bay/Lake and Peninsula Combined (7 in 4 communities), Chugiak (9), Copper River Census Area (1), Cordova (2), Delta Junction (3), Denali Borough (1), Dillingham (3), Dillingham Census Area (27 in 6 communities), Eagle River (69), Fairbanks (86), Fritz Creek (7), Girdwood (1), Greater Palmer Area (54), Greater Wasilla Area (64), Haines (6), Healy (2), Homer (141), Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined (5 in 3 communities), Hooper Bay (1), Houston/Big Lake Area (3), Juneau (86), Kenai (12), Kenai Peninsula Borough-North (3 in 2 communities), Kenai Peninsula Borough-South (2 in 2 communities), Ketchikan (23), Kodiak (13), Kodiak Island Borough (2 in 2 communities), Kotzebue (7), Kusilvak Census Area (19 in 2 communities), Mat-Su Borough (1), Metlakatla (1), Nikiski (1), Nome (8), Nome Census Area (69 in 9 communities), North Pole (16), North Slope Borough (3), Northwest Arctic Borough (41 in 5 communities), Petersburg (14), Prince of Wales-Hyder (2), Seward (10), Sitka (75), Skagway (2), Soldotna (14), Sterling (2), Sutton-Alpine (4), Tok (1), Unalaska (1), Utqiaġvik (9), Valdez (7), Willow (2), Wrangell (10), and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (3 in 3 communities).
Twenty-one nonresident cases were identified in:
- Anchorage: 6 with purpose under investigation
- Fairbanks: 4 with purpose under investigation
- Juneau: 5 with purpose under investigation
- Ketchikan: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Kotzebue: 1 with purpose under investigation
- North Slope Borough: 1 with purpose oil
- Wasilla: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Location under investigation: 2 with purpose seafood
Two resident cases were added to the state’s overall total due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 243,466 and the total number of nonresident cases to 8,040.
HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 3,752 resident hospitalizations and 1,215 resident deaths.
Three new Alaska resident hospitalizations and thirteen Alaska resident deaths were reported. Please see this webpage for more information on the process used to report COVID-19 deaths: dhss.alaska.gov/dph/epi/id/pages/covid-19/deathcounts.aspx.
The Alaskan residents who died were:
- a female resident of Anchorage age 80+
- a male resident of Anchorage age 80+
- a male resident of Anchorage age 80+
- a female resident of Anchorage in her 70s
- a male resident of Anchorage in his 70s
- a male resident of Anchorage in his 70s
- a male resident of Anchorage in his 60s
- a male resident of Anchorage in his 50s
- a male resident of Anchorage in his 50s
- a male resident of Fairbanks age 80+
- a female resident of Fairbanks in her 60s
- a female resident of Petersburg age 80+
- a female resident of Wasilla in her 30s
Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones.
There are currently 20 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized. Five of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 1.7%.
TESTING – Data on our testing dashboard are archived and still available, but updates to testing data can now be found on a tab of the cases dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/af2efc8bffbf4cdc83c2d1a134354074/. DHSS is no longer reporting percent positivity or the cumulative number of tests on our dashboard. This is in part because of the increased use in at-home rapid antigen testing, where results are not reported to the state.
COMMUNITY CASE RATE LEVELS – We encourage the public and community leaders to continue to be aware of case rates in their area. On the dashboard, the Alert Levels Map has been replaced by a Community Case Rates Map. This map presents the total number of new reported resident cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days for each borough/census area.
A tab monitoring CDC COVID-19 Community Levels has been added which also considers COVID-19 impacts on hospital admissions and hospital beds. CDC looks at the combination of three metrics — new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days — to determine the COVID-19 community level. Learn more here.
The current statewide community case rate – based on the reported number of cases per 100,000 people over the past 7 days – is 206.5. For boroughs and census areas: Six areas are at >400 cases, six areas are at 200-399 cases, eleven areas are at 100-199 cases, three areas are at 50-99 cases and two areas are at 0-49 cases per 100,000.
Find case rate levels for individual boroughs and census areas by clicking on the Community Case Rates Map tab on the cases dashboard at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/af2efc8bffbf4cdc83c2d1a134354074/.
