Alaska is reporting four additional deaths from COVID-19 along with 647 new cases of the virus. The state Department of Health and Social Services reported the deaths yesterday of a Palmer man in his 60s, an Anchorage man in his 50s, an Anchorage man in his 60s and an Anchorage man in his 70s. That raises Alaska’s death toll from the pandemic to 404 residents.
The 647 new cases of COVID-19 includes 617 resident cases. Across the Kenai Peninsula, Soldotna reported 29 cases, Homer 18, Kenai 15, Seward 11, Nikiski 4, Anchor Point 2, Kenai Peninsula Borough South 2, Kenai Peninsula Borough North 1, and Sterling 1. Additionally, there were 30 nonresident cases, including 2 in Homer and 2 in Soldotna.
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink said:
“We’re clearly seeing an increase since July 1st. We’re at 700 almost 800% nationwide increase in cases over the last seven days. Delta continues to be widespread. Reports out nationally, we’re about 97% of all sequenced cases nationwide are delta variant cases. Because of delta variant, we are seeing many things, but including the delta variant, that moves more easily from person to person. We’re continuing to see a lot of cases across the state.”
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 376.9. For boroughs and census areas: 23 areas are at the high alert level, of which the Kenai Peninsula Region is one of them.
59.5% of Alaskans age 12 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose. 53.5% of Alaskans 12 and older have been fully vaccinated. 45.5% of the Kenai Peninsula Region is fully vaccinated.