238 new COVID cases Thursday in Alaska

DHSS today announced 238 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 226 were residents in: Wasilla (68), Anchorage (63), Bethel Census Area (29), Fairbanks (16), Palmer (10), Eagle River (7), North Pole (5), Copper River Census Area (4), Petersburg (4), Matanuska-Susitna Borough (3), Bethel (2), Fairbanks North Star Borough (2), Seward (2), Sitka (2), and one each in Chugiak, Delta Junction, Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat combined, Juneau, Kenai, Kusilvak Census Area, Soldotna, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, and Wrangell.

Twelve new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

Anchorage: one in seafood industry and one with purpose under investigationUnalaska: seven in seafood industry and one with purpose under investigationFairbanks: one with purpose other investigationWasilla: one with purpose under investigation

Two resident cases were added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 57,677 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,480.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 17.4 cases per 100,000. Many regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Two regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission and three regions are at low alert with minimal transmission.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

Matanuska-Susitna Region: 39.14 cases per 100,000YK-Delta Region: 27.52 cases per 100,000Other Southeast Region - Northern: 26.6 cases per 100,000Other Interior Region: 20.6 cases per 100,000Anchorage Municipality: 15.82 cases per 100,000Fairbanks North Star Borough: 13.89 cases per 100,000

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

Kenai Peninsula Borough: 6.42 cases per 100,000Juneau City and Borough: 5.85 cases per 100,000

Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)

Southwest Region: 4.01 cases per 100,000Northwest Region: 3.42 cases per 100,000Other Southeast Region - Southern: 3.25 cases per 100,000

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,272 hospitalizations and 301 deaths, with two new hospitalizations and no new deaths of Alaska residents reported yesterday.

There are currently 33 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and five additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 38 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Two of these patients are on a ventilator. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 3.3%.

TESTING – A total of 1,771,775 tests have been conducted, with 29,194 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.68%.

VACCINATIONS – Reported to date, there have been 183,859 people who have received at least one dose and 126,145 people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for a total of 309,997 doses administered in Alaska. For more information, visit covidvax.alaska.gov.

TAKE ACTION – Vaccines are being distributed throughout Alaska but we all still need to maintain our COVID-19 protective measures to keep ourselves and others safe and healthy: coronavirus.dhss.alaska.gov.