The state Department of Health and Social Service reports 5,897 new coronavirus cases in the data update Friday from Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The Alaska residents who died were a female resident of Anchorage in her 70s, a male resident of Anchorage in his 70s, a male resident of Anchorage in his 60s, and a male resident of Anchorage in his 40s.
There have been a total of 3,477 resident hospitalizations and 1,052 resident deaths. 104 new resident hospitalizations and four Alaska resident deaths were reported. There are currently 190 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 12 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 202 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 16.4%, a slight increase from Wednesday’s report of 12.1%.
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 2292.3 For boroughs and census areas: 28 areas are at the high alert level, including the Kenai Peninsula Region.
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink said:
“Alaska continues to be on an upward trend. Fortunately, with Omicron, we’re seeing less severe disease so not quite the uptick in hospitalizations. It clearly spreads quickly through populations and symptoms can develop quite quickly in an individual. Viral loads might be a little bit less. This may be part of the reason why some people might be having a hard time having those tests turn out positive all the time. It also appears to have caused less severe disease. It more replicates in the upper airways rather than the lower airways. Vaccinated people are still protected from the most severe disease, however, it is able to avoid and really evade some of that antibody protection protected by vaccines and it’s part of the reason we’re seeing high breakthrough cases.”
The DHSS states that protective measures against the Omicron variant remain the same as for the other COVID variants. Layering protective measures, including masking, handwashing, physical distancing, and testing help to reduce transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Using a self-test before and after travel and large gatherings is advised.
