Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: August 18, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, August 18, 2020

DHSS today announced 68 new people with COVID-19 in Alaska and one death. 64 are residents in 18 communities: Anchorage (21), Wasilla (8), Kenai (6), Soldotna (6), Fairbanks (4), North Pole (4), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), Northwest-Arctic Borough (2), Sitka (2) and one each in Douglas, Eagle River, Homer, Juneau, Kotzebue, Nome, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Valdez-Cordova Census Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Four nonresident cases were reported in:

• Kodiak Island Borough: 2 seafood industry
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 1 under investigation in Soldotna
• Petersburg Borough: 1 under investigation in Petersburg

One duplicate resident case has been removed and one resident case has been corrected to a nonresident case. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases is 4,371 and the total number of nonresident cases to 806.

Of the 64 Alaska residents, 29 are male, 34 are female and one is unknown. Four are under the age of 10; four are aged 10-19; 12 are aged 20-29; 10 are aged 30-39; 15 are aged 40-49; seven are aged 50-59; nine are aged 60-69; two are aged 70-79 and one is aged 80 or older.

There have been a total of 179 hospitalizations and 29 deaths with four new hospitalizations and one new death reported yesterday. The person who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 80s with underlying health conditions. Our thoughts are with his loved ones and family members.

There are currently 41 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and six additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 47 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 1,285.

A total of 310,009 tests have been conducted. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 1.79%.

ANCHORAGE PIONEER HOME UPDATE: Staff at the Anchorage Pioneer Home have been aggressively responding to an outbreak at the home first reported on August 6. Since the last update on August 12, ongoing testing of residents and staff throughout the home has identified an additional five cases: four elders and one staff member. This brings the total number of positive cases to 17 as of August 18, including 14 elders and three staff. As testing continues at the Anchorage Pioneer Home, DHSS will periodically provide updates about the outbreak through this daily case count summary.

Note: This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on August 17 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 as details are confirmed and documentation is received. Reporting of new hospitalizations also lag, while the current number of hospitalized patients represents more real-time data. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov