Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 21, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020

DHSS today announced one death and 204 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 204 are residents in: Anchorage (133), Wasilla (15), Eagle River (8), Soldotna (6), Kenai (4), Utqiaġvik (4), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula boroughs (3), Fairbanks (2), Juneau (3), Nome Census Area (3), Chugiak (2), Delta Junction (2), Homer (2), Sterling (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2) and one each in Bethel Census Area, Dillingham, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Healy, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Kotzebue, North Pole, Palmer, Seward, Sitka, Skagway and Yakutat Borough/Hoonah-Angoon Census Area.

No new nonresident cases were identified yesterday. Eight resident cases were added to the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 11,605 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 25.76 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 36.11 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 35.15 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 34.75 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 30.99 per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 20.11 per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 16.03 per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 15.19 per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 13.69 per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Southwest Region: 8.65 per 100,000

Low (<5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 4.89 per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 4.3 per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 204 Alaska residents, 95 are male and 109 are female. Sixteen are under the age of 10; 29 are aged 10-19; 36 are aged 20-29; 35 are aged 30-39; 34 are aged 40-49; 29 are aged 50-59; 14 are aged 60-69; seven are aged 70-79 and four are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 375 hospitalizations and 68 deaths, with nine new hospitalizations and one new death reported. The person who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 60s. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,110.

There are currently 41 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 0 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 41 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators.

TESTING – A total of 547,140 tests have been conducted, with 12,149 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 4.61%.

BETHEL YOUTH FACILITY UPDATE – Four staff and one youth tested positive for COVID-19 for a total of five cases identified at the Bethel Youth Facility (BYF). The youth who tested positive for COVID-19 experienced mild symptoms and has recovered and completed their medical isolation. All other youth in the facility were tested and received negative results last week. Close contacts to the positive staff cases have been tested. Weekly testing for youth and close contact staff members at the facility will continue this week. All newly admitted residents to BYF are tested upon admission, placed on quarantine for 14 days and given another test prior to the end of their time in quarantine. Visitation is suspended at the facility.

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. 20 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.