3 deaths and 157 new COVID cases in Alaska Thursday

DHSS today announced three deaths of Alaska residents and 157 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 152 were residents in: Anchorage (60), Wasilla (19), Bethel Census Area (15), Fairbanks (11), Palmer (7), North Pole (6), Chugiak (5), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (4), Delta Junction (3), Seward (3), Copper River Census Area (2), Eagle River (2), Tok (2), Willow (2) and one each in Aleutians East Borough, Anchor Point, Big Lake, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Healy, Juneau, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Salcha, Valdez and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Five new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:

Anchorage: two with purposes under investigationUnalaska: two in seafood industryFairbanks: one with purpose under investigation

One nonresident case was added to the dashboard due to data verification procedures, bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 58,580 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,509.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 17.58 cases per 100,000. Many regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Three 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: 38.61 cases per 100,000Other Interior Region: 31.35 cases per 100,000YK-Delta Region: 29.17 cases per 100,000Anchorage Municipality: 16.93 cases per 100,000Fairbanks North Star Borough: 12.87 cases per 100,000

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

Other Southeast Region - Northern: 8.05 cases per 100,000Kenai Peninsula Borough: 6.91 cases per 100,000Juneau City and Borough: 5.17 cases per 100,000

Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)

Northwest Region: 4.74 cases per 100,000Southwest Region: 3.74 cases per 100,000Other Southeast Region - Southern: 3.61 cases per 100,000

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,312 hospitalizations and 306 deaths, with two new hospitalizations and three deaths of Alaska residents reported yesterday. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the individuals who died.

All three deaths were identified through death certificate review:

A male Fairbanks resident who was 80 years or olderA female Bethel Census Area resident who was 80 years or olderA male Anchorage resident who was 80 years or older

There are currently 36 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 39 current COVID-related hospitalizations. One of these patients is on a ventilator. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 3.6%.

TESTING – A total of 1,820,986 tests have been conducted, with 32,019 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.34%.

VACCINATIONS – Reported to date, there have been 204,918 people who have received at least one dose and 141,464 people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for a total of 346,309 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.