Mat-Su now at two COVID-19 related deaths

ANCHORAGE — Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced no changes to health mandates or advisories, but encouraged Alaskans to engage in activities outdoors as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A total of 23 new cases were announced on Tuesday with four nonresident cases in with 19 local cases bringing Alaska’s cumulative total to 1,184 cases of COVID-19.

On Wednesday, 49 additional cases were reported with three located in Palmer. The second Mat-Su resident to have died from COVID-19 was reported on July 5. Department of Health and Social Services Communications Director Clinton Bennett reported that the woman was in her 70s and suffered from comorbidities.

“We knew that this virus was highly contagious and so we will see an uptick in cases just like states are across the country, but we still have some of the best numbers in the country and we want to keep it that way, and again right now as always we just rely on you as individual Alaskans to monitor your own health but also keep an eye out for others around you. We do recommend that you wear a face mask when you’re in public,” said Dunleavy.

With 133,401 total tests conducted, Alaska’s 1.19 percent positive rate remains the lowest in the country. Of the 1,184 total cases, 607 remain active. The Mat-Su now has 118 total cases with two new cases of COVID-19 reported out of Wasilla on Tuesday and 70 currently active. Alaska’s total deaths attributed to COVID-19 is now 17 with the addition of another Mat-Su resident that died on July 5, according to state records, the second Mat-Su resident to die from coronavirus. A total of 9,049 Mat-Su residents have been tested for COVID-19 accounting for .9 percent of the population.

“We live in a very interconnected world in general. I don’t think we can say that there’s one specific place or reason for increase in cases except for what we talk about all the time, just the more that we mix, the larger the gatherings, the closer we’re together, the higher the risk of spread,” said Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink.

Zink used her time during the press conference to discuss new hospital metrics and changes to the state’s response hub dashboard. Alaska has had 79 total hospitalizations with four more announced on Tuesday. The average length of hospital stay for the 78 total hospitalized was 5.79 days accounting for 452 toal hospital patient days so far during the pandemic. Zink showed the hospital capacity metrics of testing capacity and health care capacity that remain at a green level with disease activity and public health capacity at an orange.

“I think there was so much focus initially kind of on touching and surfaces and the data has just become more and more clear that the spread can really happen in closed confined spaces via microdroplets and people talking in enclosed spaces, and so I think that the mask makes a bigger difference now than we initially thought versus the washing,” said Zink. “IIf we’re washing our hands, keeping six feet apart and wearing a mask, businesses stay open, people stay healthy and we keep moving forward.”

Zink said that the dashboard will soon feature three, seven- and 14-day average case counts sectioned off by behavioral health regions that will allow residents to track the levels of community spread. Zink also provided a COVID-19 risk index graphic naming enclosed space, crowds, duration of interaction and forceful exhalation as risk factors. Additional features will allow residents to toggle between case residency and case occurrence in the near future, differentiating between travel associated cases in a community and local residents who have tested positive. Zink also said that the dashboard would be changed to reflect the total number of acute care beds available to better represent hospital capacity.

“The occurrence is where the person is not where they got the disease,” said Zink.

Dunleavy said that another press conference would be held next week to address COVID-19 response and that his administration would continue to watch the numbers. Dunleavy also hoped that Alaskan students would be able to attend schools in person in the fall.

“We do believe that students need to be educated and it’s our hope that we can get all of our kids back to school, and the great news as we’ve mentioned about this virus is the research seems to indicate consistently day after day that kids are not really impacted the way adults are and those with underlying health conditions, so that’s very good news and that bodes well for the possibility of opening school and educating kids in the manner that we have in the past but we’re going to make sure that we have a number of contingencies in place to make sure that education takes place here in the fall,” said Dunleavy. “We’re going to work with our schools as we have been and our school districts. We’re going to use the best science we can but we’ve got to educate children. We’re not going to put them in a situation in which their lives are in danger and as I said earlier thank god this virus does not appear to impact children anywhere near it does adults and those with health issues.”