On Christmas Day, the Department of Health and Social Services announced one death and 162 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 152 were residents in: Anchorage (50), Kodiak (17), Fairbanks (14), Palmer (11), Bethel (9), Eagle River (9), Kenai (6), Wasilla (6), North Pole (5), Homer (4), Juneau (4), Soldotna (3), Seward (2), Unalaska (2), and one each in Bethel Census Area, Chugiak, Delta Junction, Dillingham, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kodiak Island Borough, Kotzebue, Municipality of Anchorage-Other, Nikiski, North Slope Borough, and Utqiaġvik.
Ten new nonresident cases were identified on Christmas Eve:
- Northwest Arctic Borough: four in the mining industry
- Unalaska: three with purpose under investigation
- Anchorage: one with purpose under investigation
- Southeast Alaska: one in the mining industry
- Location Under Investigation: one with purpose with investigation
Two resident cases were subtracted and one nonresident case was added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. The total number of Alaska resident cases is 43,779 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,486.
CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 152 Alaska residents, 82 are male, 70 are female. 12 are under the age of 10; 22 are aged 10-19; 34 are aged 20-29; 30 are aged 30-39; 16 are aged 40-49; 19 are aged 50-59; 12 are aged 60-69; four are aged 70-79 and three are aged 80 or older.
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 967 hospitalizations and 199 deaths, with three new hospitalizations and one new death reported yesterday. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the individual who died.
One death was recent:
- A male Matanuska Susitna Borough resident in his 60s
TAKE ACTION – Vaccines are arriving in 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
Notes: Cases reported to the Section of Epidemiology are increasing. Reports are received electronically, by phone and by fax. Cases are verified, redundancies are eliminated and then cases are entered into the data system that feeds into Alaska’s Coronavirus Response Hub. Because of the number of reports being received, there have been delays in getting reports entered and counted. Extra personnel continue to focus on the effort to process and count reports and minimize the delay from receipt to posting on the Hub. Daily case counts seem likely to remain at this level or higher for the near future.
This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 23 that posted at noon Friday on the Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub. There is a lag between cases being reported on the DHSS data dashboard and what local communities report. Each case is an individual person even if they are tested multiple times. Total tests are a not a count of unique individuals tested and includes both positive and negative results. The current number of hospitalized patients represents more real-time data compared to the cumulative total hospitalizations. Current hospitalizations are reported for all facilities, not just general acute care and critical access facilities, as is the default on the dashboard. Total number of hospital beds available fluctuate daily as the number of available hospital staff changes. All data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.