COVID-19 DATA SUMMARY – Jan. 31, 2022

OVERVIEW – 4,447 new cases | 0 deaths | 187 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 58.5% 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 – 64% of Alaskans age 5 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

58.4% 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: 78.7%
YK-Delta Region: 74.8%
Other Southeast Region – Northern: 73.3%
Southwest Region: 68.8%
Other Southeast Region – Southern: 65.8%
Anchorage Region: 63.2%
Northwest Region: 60.6%
Other Interior Region: 58.5%
Fairbanks North Star Borough: 50.3%
Kenai Peninsula Region: 48.5%
Matanuska-Susitna Region: 41.2%

CASES – DHSS today announced 0 deaths of Alaska residents and 4,447 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska.

4,347 were residents of: Anchorage (1,550), Greater Wasilla Area (381), Fairbanks (276), Eagle River (225), Greater Palmer Area (220), Nome Census Area (162 in 12 communities), Juneau (161), North Pole (114), Soldotna (86), Northwest Arctic Borough (85 in 10 communities), Seward (85), Kenai (79), Kodiak (71), Valdez (66), Bethel Census Area (55 in 15 communities), North Slope Borough (50 in 8 communities), Utqiaġvik (50), Homer (45), Aleutians East Borough (42 in 3 communities), Nome (39), Ketchikan (37), Kotzebue (37), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (34 in 9 communities), Bethel (31), Chugiak (31), Sitka (30), Dillingham (24), Bristol Bay/Lake and Peninsula Combined (23 in 5 communities), Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area (22 in 5 communities), Craig (21), Kusilvak Census Area (21 in 8 communities), Houston/Big Lake Area (17), Wrangell (17), Kenai Peninsula Borough-North (14 in 5 communities), Anchor Point (13), Chevak (11), Sterling (11), Delta Junction (10), Fairbanks North Star Borough (10 in 2 communities), Willow (9), Kenai Peninsula Borough-South (8 in 2 communities), Mat-Su Borough (8 in 2 communities), Nikiski (7), Tok (7), Dillingham Census Area (6 in 5 communities), Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined (6 in 2 communities), Girdwood (5), Haines (4), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (4 in 3 communities), Sutton-Alpine (4), Copper River Census Area (3 in 2 communities), Cordova (3), Fritz Creek (3), Metlakatla (3), Ester (2), Healy (2), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (2), and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Denali Borough, Hooper Bay, Petersburg, and Unalaska.

100 nonresident cases were identified in:

Anchorage: 1 with purpose seafood, 2 with purpose other, 24 with purpose under investigation
Aleutians East: 16 with purpose seafood
Fairbanks: 1 with purpose education, 12 with purpose under investigation
Dillingham: 10 with purpose seafood
North Slope Borough: 6 with purpose North Slope oil
Valdez: 5 with purpose under investigation
Homer: 4 with purpose under investigation
Wasilla: 4 with purpose under investigation
Bristol Bay/Lake and Peninsula Borough combined: 3 with purpose seafood
Juneau: 2 with purpose under investigation
Kenai: 2 with purpose under investigation
Copper River Census Area: 1 with purpose under investigation
Nome: 1 with purpose under investigation
North Pole: 1 with purpose under investigation
Location under investigation: 4 with purpose under investigation

24 resident cases were subtracted from and 120 nonresident cases were added to the state’s overall total due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 209,564 and the total number of nonresident cases to 7,375.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 3,450 resident hospitalizations and 1,052 resident deaths. Three new resident hospitalizations and no 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 187 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 14 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 201 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 16.8%.

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 2105.6. For boroughs and census areas: 27 areas are at the high alert level (>100 cases), one area is 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).