Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 17, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020

DHSS today announced one death and 204 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 201 are residents in: Anchorage (90), Fairbanks (15), Wasilla (15), Juneau (12), Eagle River (10), Delta Junction (5), Palmer (5), Utqiaġvik (5), North Pole (4),  Soldotna (4), Bethel (3), Bethel Census Area (3), Chugiak (3), Petersburg (3), Willow (3),  Chevak (2), Healy (2), Ketchikan, (2), Sterling (2), Tok (2), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (2) and one each in Craig, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Girdwood, Homer, Kenai, Kenai Peninsula - North,  Kodiak, Nome Census Area and Unalaska. 

Three new nonresident cases were identified in:

• Anchorage: two with purpose still under investigation 
• Wasilla: one with purpose still under investigation

Ten resident and two nonresident cases have been added to the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 10,760 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,032.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000 population, is high at 23.7 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Northwest Region: 36.45 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 33.96 per 100,000 population
• Anchorage Municipality: 31.99 cases per 100,000 population
• YK-Delta Region: 31.76 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 16.45 per 100,000 population
• Juneau City and Borough: 13.18 per 100,000 population
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 10.6 per 100,000 population
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 10.52 per 100,000 population

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Southwest Region: 6.92 per 100,000 population

Low (<5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 4.3 per 100,000 population
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 2.79 per 100,000 population

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 201 Alaska residents, 92 are male and 109 are female. 13 are under the age of 10; 21 are aged 10-19; 39 are aged 20-29; 35 are aged 30-39; 27 are aged 40-49; 30 are aged 50-59; 22 are aged 60-69; 10 are aged 70-79 and four are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 361 hospitalizations and 67 deaths, with one new recent death reported. The individual who died was a male Fairbanks resident in his 90s. Our thoughts are with the individual’s family, loved ones and community.

Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 5,813

There are currently 50 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 18 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 68 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Nine of these patients are on ventilators.

TESTING – A total of 530,500 tests have been conducted, with 13,053 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.94%.

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. 16 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.