The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported one new death related to COVID-19 and 75 new positive COVID-19 cases among residents during the combined numbers released on Saturday and Sunday. Two of the cases came from Seward and one was from Soldotna. The majority of the counts, 54, came from Anchorage.
The tally of COVID-19-related fatalities among Alaska residents is now 16, while 19 patients are currently hospitalized for either testing positive for COVID-19 or being suspected of having it. The total number of residents to test positive in Alaska is 1,138.
Twelve non-resident cases were also reported throughout the state, six of which originated in the seafood industry.
The current number of active cases in the state is currently 574. As counts continue to rise, this marks the 19th consecutive day of Alaska’s active case count being a new daily high figure.
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, says that rising case counts generally mean it is time to be extra aware of COVID-19: “This is the time to be able to hunker back down, making sure that you are doing the things that you can to minimize the spread of the disease, minimize your contact with others, extended time within indoor facilities. Instead of going to a restaurant, order out from your favorite restaurant. Drive your RV up and have a nice night up in your RV and not in the restaurant itself. Try ot order out food for delivery from your grocery store instead of going inside the store. This is no the time to be getting together in larger gatherings, or even medium gatherings. Keep those bubbles really small as we really try to keep the lid on COVID-19.”
She also says that the state is continuing to work towards a vaccine: “Every day, we get closer to a vaccine option. We’re seeing more treatment options coming out. We still have healthcare capacity. We still have capacity within our system, both within testing, and contact tracing / investigation. But the quicker we can act early, the more we can keep a lid on this.”