Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 27, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020

DHSS today announced two new deaths and 381 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 378 are residents in: Anchorage (146), Fairbanks (46), Wasilla (41),  Kenai (13), Utqiaġvik (14), Palmer (13), Chevak (12), Eagle River (9), North Pole (9), Juneau (8), Soldotna (8), Bethel Census Area (6), Denali Borough (6), Fairbanks North Star Borough (6), Kotzebue (4), Bethel (3), Chugiak (3), Dillingham Census Area (3), Kusilvak Census Area (3), Nome Census Area (3), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (2),  and one each Anchor Point, Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula Borough, Delta Junction, Douglas, Homer, Hooper Bay, Houston, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Kodiak, Matanuska Susitna Borough, Nome, North Slope Borough, Seward, Sterling, Willow, and Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon.

Three new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Wasilla (2) with purposes under investigation
• Location under investigation (1) with the purpose of oil  

Four resident cases were added to the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 13,742 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,056.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 35.37 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 106.69 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 42.51 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 37.76 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 32.1 per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 28.86 per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 27.17 per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 24.34 per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 23.46 per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 10.38 per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 7.33 per 100,000

Low (<5 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 3.23 per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 378 Alaska residents, 204 are male and 174 are female. 19 are under the age of 10; 59 are aged 10-19; 72 are aged 20-29; 72 are aged 30-39; 56 are aged 40-49; 41 are aged 50-59; 34 are aged 60-69; 19 are aged 70-79 and six are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 400 hospitalizations and 70 deaths, with nine new hospitalizations and two new deaths reported. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,370.  The persons who died were a male Anchorage resident in his 80s and a male Fairbanks resident in his 90s.  Our thoughts are with their loved ones and family.  

There are currently 57 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 24 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 81 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators.

NOTES: The count of people who are hospitalized and are persons under investigation (PUI) as suspected COVID-19 cases has been underreported (shown as 0) since Oct. 19. This error was due to a change in the hospital reporting template used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ TeleTracking system which is the source of data for the hospital dashboard. As of today, Oct. 27, correct numbers are now being reported on the hospital dashboard. Corrected historical data for Oct. 19-26 can be found in Table 6C of the summary tables which are available for download here. This error also impacted the number of available ventilators which will show correct numbers tomorrow, Oct. 28. Please note, the error did NOT impact the number of confirmed positive cases in hospitalized patients. Data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

TESTING – A total of 577,429 tests have been conducted, with 18,983 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.61%.

FAIRBANKS PIONEER HOME UPDATE – Since the last update on Oct. 20, one resident and two staff have tested positive for COVID-19. This brings the total number of cases at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home since Sept. 21 to 36 residents and 26 staff. As of today, five residents and two staff members are active cases. Another resident has died, bringing the total number of deaths to two. No residents are currently hospitalized. Our thoughts are with the loved ones and family of the resident who died.

Positive residents continue to be cared for by staff who have recovered and were cleared to return to work. Residents and staff will continue to be tested twice weekly until 14 days have passed without any new cases.

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. 26 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.