OVERVIEW – 5,497 new cases | 9 deaths | 136 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 58.3% of Alaskans 5+ vaccinated
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 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. The rates listed below reflect the percentage of Alaskans age 5 and older reported as vaccinated.
VACCINATIONS – 63.8% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.
58.3% 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: 78.5%
- YK-Delta Region: 74.6%
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 73.2%
- Southwest Region: 68.6%
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 65.7%
- Anchorage Region: 63%
- Northwest Region: 60.4%
- Other Interior Region: 58.2%
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 50.2%
- Kenai Peninsula Region: 48.4%
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 41.1%
CASES – DHSS today announced 9 deaths of Alaska residents and 5,497 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.
5,386 were residents of: Anchorage (2,001), Fairbanks (572), Greater Wasilla Area (500), Greater Palmer Area (234), Eagle River (233), North Pole (189), Juneau (158), Nome Census Area (114 in 13 communities), Bethel Census Area (103 in 18 communities), Seward (96), Kodiak (95), Kenai (87), Ketchikan (84), Utqiaġvik (75), Soldotna (69), Chugiak (62), Nome (60), Bethel (57), Homer (54), Kusilvak Census Area (54 in 7 communities), Northwest Arctic Borough (36 in 8 communities), Dillingham (32), Hooper Bay (32), Kotzebue (28), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (26 in 8 communities), Delta Junction (20), Sitka (20), Aleutians East Borough (19), Anchor Point (17), Kenai Peninsula Borough-North (17 in 4 communities), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (17 in 3 communities), Sterling (15), Unalaska (15), Kenai Peninsula Borough-South (13 in 3 communities), Valdez (13), Bristol Bay/Lake and Peninsula Combined (12 in 4 communities), Houston/ Big Lake Area (12), Copper River Census Area (11 in 2 communities), Girdwood (11), Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined (10 in 3 communities), North Slope Borough (9 in 4 communities), Tok (9), Wrangell (9), Chevak (6), Craig (6), Nikiski (6), Petersburg (6), Dillingham Census Area (5 in 4 communities), Fairbanks North Star Borough (5 in 2 communities), Haines (5), Chugach Census Area (4 in 2 communities), Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area (4 in 2 communities), Sutton-Alpine (4), Healy (3), Mat-Su Borough (3 in 2 communities), Metlakatla (3), Aleutians West Census Area (2 in 1 community), Denali Borough (2 in 2 communities), Fritz Creek (2), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (2), Willow (2), and one each in Cordova, Ester, and Skagway plus residence under investigation (13).
111 nonresident cases were identified in:
- Anchorage: 25 with purpose under investigation
- Unalaska: 24 with purpose seafood
- Fairbanks: 21 with purpose under investigation
- Wasilla: 6 with purpose under investigation
- Palmer: 5 with purpose under investigation
- North Pole: 3 with purpose under investigation
- Prudhoe Bay: 2 with purpose North Slope oil, 1 with purpose under investigation
- Dillingham: 2 with purpose under investigation
- Juneau: 2 with purpose under investigation
- Ketchikan: 2 with purpose under investigation
- Bethel: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Kenai: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Kotzebue: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Utqiaġvik: 1 with purpose under investigation
- Location under investigation: 2 with purpose seafood, 12 with purpose under investigation
10 resident cases were subtracted from and one nonresident case was added to the state’s overall total due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 199,552 and the total number of nonresident cases to 6,952.
The Alaska residents who died were:
- A female resident of Anchorage age 80+
- A male resident of Anchorage age 80+
- A female resident of Anchorage in her 60s
- A female resident of Anchorage age in her 50s
- A female resident of North Pole in her 70s
- A male resident of Wasilla age 80+
- A male resident of Wasilla age 80+
- A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
- A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones.
HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 3,430 resident hospitalizations and 1,048 resident deaths. 30 new resident hospitalizations and nine 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.
There are currently 136 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 17 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 153 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Four of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 12.1%.
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. In addition, effective today, some testing organizations will only be required to report positive COVID-19 test results and will not need to report negative results to Section of Epidemiology. This change will allow those organizations to focus on reporting positive results and mitigation instead of the time-consuming task of reporting negative results. These two changes make percent positivity a less meaningful metric, which is why DHSS is no longer tracking this on its dashboard. If you have any questions about the data or these changes please email covidquestions@alaska.gov.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level – based on the reported number of cases per 100,000 people over the past 7 days – is high (red) at 2369.3 For boroughs and census areas: 28 areas are at the high alert level (>100 cases), no areas are at the substantial alert level (50-99.99), no areas are at the moderate alert level (10-49.99) and no areas are at the low alert level (0-9.99).
Find alert levels for individual boroughs and census areas using the alert levels map on the cases dashboard at www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/ddd52524412b41b690b82b5618735f9e.
