On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Social Services announced 201 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 196 were residents in: Anchorage (60), Wasilla (51), Palmer (16), Fairbanks (12), Eagle River (11), North Pole (10), Soldotna (6), Juneau (4), Kenai (3), Anchor Point (2), Bethel Census Area (2), Chugiak (2), Delta Junction (2), Kodiak (2), Valdez (2), Wrangell (2), and one each in Bristol Bay/ Lake and Peninsula, Cordova, Denali Borough, Ketchikan, Kusilvak Census Area, Nikiski, Nome, North Slope Borough, and Seward.
Five new nonresident cases were identified in:
- Juneau: two with purpose under investigation
- Fairbanks: one with purpose under investigation
- Cordova: one with purpose other
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: one with purpose mining
One resident case was subtracted from the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 62,876 and the total number of nonresident cases to 2,660.
HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,407 resident hospitalizations and 310 resident deaths, with three new hospitalization and no new deaths reported.
There are currently 44 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 47 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Six of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 4.5%.
TESTING – A total of 1,994,079 tests have been conducted, with 29,700 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 3.18%.
For the week of April 4-10, the following variants of concern were identified in Alaska cases based on tests conducted on the following dates:
UK/B1.1.7 variant:
- March 7, 2021 in Juneau, acquired in the community
- March 17, 2021 in Petersburg, secondary acquisition
- March 20, 2021 nonresident, acquired through travel
- March 20, 2021 in Anchorage, acquired in the community
- March 26, 2021 in Anchorage, acquired in the community
- March 26, 2021 in Anchorage, acquisition under investigation
Brazil/P.1 variant:
- Feb. 13, 2021 in Anchorage, secondary acquisition
South Africa/ B.1.351 variant:
- Feb. 20, 2021 in Anchorage, acquired in the community
This brings the total number of UK/B.1.1.7 cases through April 10 to nine; Brazil/P.1 cases to six; and South Africa/B.1.351 cases to one.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 22.91 cases per 100,000. Seven regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Three regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission and one region is at low alert with minimal transmission.
High (>10 cases/100,000)
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 48.33 cases per 100,000
- Other Interior Region: 26.74 cases per 100,000
- Anchorage Municipality: 23.63 cases per 100,000
- YK-Delta Region: 20.64 cases per 100,000
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 16.84 cases per 100,000
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 16.36 cases per 100,000
- Southwest Region: 10.96 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)
- Juneau City and Borough: 8.32 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 7.7 cases per 100,000
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 5.42 cases per 100,000
Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)
- Northwest Region: 3.69 cases per 100,000
VACCINATIONS – 46.6% of Alaskans age 16 and older have received at least their first vaccine dose.
38.2% of Alaskans 16 and older have been fully vaccinated. The higher the vaccination rate, the more protected community members are from COVID-19. See below for percentages of all fully vaccinated Alaskans age 16 and older by region:
- Other Southeast Region – Northern: 60.6%
- YK-Delta Region: 56.4%
- Juneau City and Borough: 55.2%
- Northwest Region: 48.5%
- Other Southeast Region – Southern: 42.3%
- Southwest Region: 41.4%
- Other Interior Region: 40.5%
- Anchorage Municipality: 39.9%
- Kenai Peninsula Borough: 33.8%
- Fairbanks North Star Borough: 30.9%
- Matanuska-Susitna Region: 24.3%