Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 20, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020

DHSS today announced 215 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 213 are residents in: Anchorage (111), Wasilla (21), Fairbanks (18), Bethel (9), Juneau (6), Soldotna (6), Utqiaġvik (6), Eagle River (4), Kenai (3), Homer (2), Healy (2), Palmer (2), NW Arctic Borough (2), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (2), Skagway (2), Bethel Census Area (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2) and one each in Anchor Point, Chugiak, Chevak, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Mat-Su Borough, Nome Census Area, North Pole, Seward, Sterling and one location still under investigation.

Two new nonresident cases, both with purposes still under investigation, were identified yesterday: one in Anchorage and one location under investigation.

Two resident cases and one nonresident case was removed from the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 11,393 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,039.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 24.93 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• Northwest Region: 37.23 cases per 100,000
• YK-Delta Region: 36.65 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 32.92 per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 32.75 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 19.19 per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 14.96 per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 14.56 per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 12.75 per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Southwest Region: 7.42 per 100,000

Low (<5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 3.94 per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 3.84 per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 213 Alaska residents, 103 are male, 109 are female and one is unknown. 21 are under the age of 10; 23 are aged 10-19; 39 are aged 20-29; 46 are aged 30-39; 24 are aged 40-49; 25 are aged 50-59; 26 are aged 60-69; six are aged 70-79 and three are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 366 hospitalizations and 67 deaths, with five new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,042.

There are currently 38 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 0 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 38 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Ten of these patients are on ventilators.

TESTING – A total of 546,525 tests have been conducted, with 16,629 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.25%. Please note, yesterday’s case count summary incorrectly reported the total number of tests; the correct numbers were 536,223 total tests, with a seven-day total of 9,871.

FAIRBANKS PIONEER HOME UPDATE – Since the last update on Oct. 13, six new residents and no staff have tested positive for COVID-19. This brings the total number of cases at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home since Sept. 21 to 35 residents and 24 staff. As of today, 25 residents and three staff members are active cases. Two residents are hospitalized; one resident has died. Our thoughts are with the loved ones and family of the resident who died last week.

Positive residents are being cared for by staff who have recovered and were cleared to return to work. Another round of testing for residents and staff began today and twice-weekly testing will continue.

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. 19 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.