Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Oct. 28, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020

DHSS today announced one new death and 353 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 350 are residents in: Anchorage (168), Wasilla (55),  Fairbanks (23), Palmer (18), Kenai (13), Soldotna (11), North Pole (9), Eagle River (7), Juneau (6),  Dillingham Census Area (5),  Kotzebue (5), Bethel Census Area (4), Bethel (3), Nikiski (3), Tok (3), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), Sterling (2), and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Big Lake, Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula Borough, Chugiak, Delta Junction, Douglas, Girdwood,  Kusilvak Census Area,  Matanuska Susitna Borough, Meadow Lakes, Utqiaġvik, Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon, and one with location under investigation.

Three new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Anchorage (1) with purpose listed as 'other industry' 
• Two with location and purpose under investigation   

Five resident cases were added to and one nonresident case removed from the data dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 14,097 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,058.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 37.34 per 100,000. Regional alert levels are noted below:

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 107.51 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 44.45 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 35.93 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 33.62 per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 33.22 per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 30.23 per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 25.01 per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 24.98 per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 12.11 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: 2.87 per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 350 Alaska residents, 168 are male, 181 are female and one case is under investigation. 26 are under the age of 10; 44 are aged 10-19; 53 are aged 20-29; 69 are aged 30-39; 51 are aged 40-49; 56 are aged 50-59; 25 are aged 60-69; 21 are aged 70-79 and five are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 413 hospitalizations and 71 deaths, with 13 new hospitalizations and one new death reported. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,422.  The person who died was a female resident of the Kenai Peninsula Borough-North in her 80s.  Our thoughts are with her loved ones and family.  

There are currently 63 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 17 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 80 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eight of these patients are on ventilators.

TESTING – A total of 580,599 tests have been conducted, with 17,044 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.89%.

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. 27 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.