Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Sept. 9, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020

DHSS today announced 66 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 65 are residents in 12 communities: Anchorage (34), Juneau (11), Fairbanks (7), North Pole (3), Douglas (2), Soldotna (2) and one each for Bethel Census Area, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Homer, Metlakatla, Nome Census Area and Utqiaġvik.

One new nonresident case was reported in Prudhoe Bay in the oil industry. One resident case has been removed, one nonresident case from July has been added, and one resident case has been corrected to nonresident on the dashboard bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 5,896 and the total number of nonresident cases to 894. The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate for the past 14 days, is intermediate.

Of the 65 Alaska residents, 30 are male and 35 are female. Seven are under the age of 10; five are aged 10-19; 19 are aged 20-29; 13 are aged 30-39; four are aged 40-49; 11 are aged 50-59; four are aged 60-69 and two are aged 70-79.

There have been a total of 239 hospitalizations and 42 deaths with four new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday. There are currently 37 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and three additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 40 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 2,137.

A total of 391,937 tests have been conducted, with 5,860 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.25%.

McLaughlin Youth Center update
The results of last week’s COVID-19 tests at McLaughlin Youth Center (MYC) showed no new cases at the facility. MYC will continue to test youth and staff this week. To date, the total number of cases at MYC remains at 24, including 15 youth and nine staff members. MYC is still admitting new residents who are tested upon admission, placed in a quarantine unit for 14 days and given another test prior to the end of their time in the quarantine unit. Visitation is still suspended at the facility.

Alaska Pioneer Homes update
No new cases have been identified at either the Anchorage or Palmer pioneer homes in more than two weeks in residents or staff (working in the facility). Staff are being tested weekly and residents are tested at the first sign of symptoms. All cases are considered recovered, with the exception of one resident who is still hospitalized. In Fairbanks, it’s been 10 days since the last staff member tested positive and two weeks since one resident tested positive. Both staff and residents are currently being tested one to two times per week, based on risk of exposure to the two current cases. Once all tests come back negative, weekly testing of staff and symptomatic testing of residents will resume.

Notes: This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on September 8 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