194 new COVID cases and one death in Alaska on Thursday

OVERVIEW – 194 new cases | 19/1 deaths | 37 hospitalizations | Statewide alert level: high | 38.7% 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. Until more people are vaccinated and case rates are lower in Alaska, take precautions including wearing a mask, staying six feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Learn more at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html.

VACCINATIONS – 46.9% of Alaskans age 16 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.

38.7% 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:

Other Southeast Region - Northern: 61%YK-Delta Region: 56.5%Juneau City and Borough: 55.4%Northwest Region: 48.6%Other Southeast Region - Southern: 42.9%Southwest Region: 41.6%Other Interior Region: 40.8%Anchorage Municipality: 40.6%Kenai Peninsula Borough: 34.4%Fairbanks North Star Borough: 31.1%Matanuska-Susitna Region: 24.9%

For more information about vaccines, visit covidvax.alaska.gov.

CASES – DHSS today announced 194 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 185 were residents in: Anchorage (54), Wasilla (54), Palmer (20), Fairbanks (12), Eagle River (9), Soldotna (8), Chugiak (4), North Pole (4), Kenai (3), Big Lake (2), Kusilvak Census Area (2), Seward (2), Willow (2) and one each in Chevak, Delta Junction, Dillingham, Girdwood, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Sitka, Sutton-Alpine, Valdez and Wrangell.

Nine new nonresident cases were identified in:

Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula: four with purposes under investigationAnchorage: two with purposes under investigationJuneau: one with purpose under investigationWasilla: one with purpose under investigationLocation under investigation: one with purpose under investigation

No adjustments were made to the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 63,061 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,669.

HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,412 resident hospitalizations and 329 resident deaths, with five new hospitalizations, 19 deaths of Alaska residents, and one death of a nonresident reported yesterday. Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individuals who died.

Nineteen deaths of Alaska residents were identified through death certificate review:

Female Fairbanks resident who was 80 or olderFemale Fairbanks resident in her 70sMale Fairbanks resident in his 70sMale Southeast Fairbanks Census Area resident in his 50sMale Kusilvak Census Area resident in his 60sMale Wasilla resident who was 80 or olderMale Wasilla resident in his 70sFemale Wasilla resident in her 60sMale Anchorage resident who was 80 or older who died out of stateMale Anchorage resident who was 80 or olderFemale Anchorage resident in her 70sMale Anchorage resident in his 60sFemale Anchorage resident in her 40s Female Anchorage resident in her 40s who died out of stateMale Anchorage resident in his 40s who died out of stateMale Anchorage resident in his 20sMale Dillingham Census Area resident in his 60sMale Hoonah-Angoon-Yakutat area resident who was 80 or olderMale Sitka resident in his 70s who died out of state

One death of a nonresident was identified through death certificate review:

Male nonresident in his 50s died in Fairbanks

There are currently 37 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and two additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 39 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Five of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 3.5%.

TESTING – A total of 2,000,998 tests have been conducted, with 29,423 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 3.05%.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 22.5 cases per 100,000. Seven regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Three regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission and one region is at low alert with minimal transmission.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

Matanuska-Susitna Region: 49.66 cases per 100,000Other Interior Region: 24.59 cases per 100,000Anchorage Municipality: 22.54 cases per 100,000Fairbanks North Star Borough: 17.06 cases per 100,000YK-Delta Region: 16.79 cases per 100,000Kenai Peninsula Borough: 16.73 cases per 100,000Southwest Region: 10.69 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)

Juneau City and Borough: 8.09 cases per 100,000 Other Southeast Region - Northern: 8.05 cases per 100,000Other Southeast Region - Southern: 5.42 cases per 100,000

Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)

Northwest Region: 3.16 cases per 100,000