The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reports another sizeable increase in COVID-19 cases as 6,532 new cases were reported on Friday from the 19th and the 20th. Included with that data update were 134 hospitalizations and 0 deaths.
There have been a total of 3,393 resident hospitalizations and 1,018 resident deaths. 20 new resident hospitalizations and no Alaska resident deaths were reported. There are currently 134 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 19 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 153 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Five of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.5%.
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink said:
“So, the Omicron surge has really been marked by high case rates with a fast-spreading variant in Alaska as well as other places, but we consistently see that we have new tools and more tools that work against this variant. The biggest thing is that we see is that Omicron is causing less severe disease overall. This appears to be both a combination of the virus itself, really replicating in upper airways, not causing as much of this biphasic response, where people are ill, get better, and they get really sick with a lot of inflammation. It looks more kind of like the flu where people are sick, they don’t feel well for five to six days, and then they recover. We’re seeing lower rates of hospitalization which has been great overall. We are also seeing people, who had previously been infected, and particularly those who are up to date on their vaccines, are really much more protected against this variant as well. While it’s not as protective as compared to the delta variant, it’s still providing good protection, particularly if you’re up to date for severe disease and we want to emphasize that.”
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 2234.6. For boroughs and census areas: 28 areas are at the high alert level, including the Kenai Peninsula Region.