Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 19, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Monday, Oct. 19, 2020

DHSS today announced 200 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 200 are residents in: Anchorage (85), Fairbanks (52), Wasilla (9), Dillingham Census Area (8), Palmer (6), Soldotna (6), Bethel Census Area (5), Eagle River (5), North Pole (5), Chugiak (4), Juneau (3), Homer (2) and one each in Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula boroughs, Cordova, Houston, Kenai, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Seward, Utqiaġvik, Yakutat Borough/Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and one location still under investigation.

No new nonresident cases were identified yesterday. Two resident and two nonresident cases were added to the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 11,182 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,038.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 24.31 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Northwest Region: 37.76 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 36.38 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 33.59 per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 31.72 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 17.67 per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 14.29 per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 13.09 per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 11.88 per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Southwest Region: 8.9 per 100,000

Low (<5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 3.94 per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 2.79 per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 200 Alaska residents, 110 are male, 89 are female and one is unknown. Seven are under the age of 10; 20 are aged 10-19; 46 are aged 20-29; 61 are aged 30-39; 18 are aged 40-49; 28 are aged 50-59; 16 are aged 60-69 and four are aged 70-79.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 361 hospitalizations and 67 deaths, with no new hospitalizations or no deaths reported. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 5,880.

There are currently 41 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 24 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 65 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators.

TESTING – A total of 633,723 tests have been conducted, with 13,873 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.67%.

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, it may take a day or two after receipt to get a report entered and counted. Extra personnel will 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 in the near future seem likely to remain at this level or higher.

This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 18 that posted at noon today 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. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov.