Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 3, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020

DHSS today announced 382 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 380 are residents in: Anchorage (176), Wasilla (32), Fairbanks (22), Juneau (19), Chevak (18), Bethel Census Area (14), North Pole (13), Bethel (11), Kotzebue (11), Palmer (10), Soldotna (8), Eagle River (7), Utqiaġvik (6), Kenai (5), Chugiak (3), Homer (3), Seward (3), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula boroughs (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2), one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Big Lake, Dillingham Census Area, Douglas, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fritz Creek, Girdwood, Healy, Hooper Bay, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Nome Census Area, NW Arctic Borough, Sitka, Sutton-Alpine, and one location under investigation.

Two new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Fairbanks: one in mining
• One case with location and purpose under investigation

Eight resident cases and one nonresident case were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 16,360 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,088.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 47.4 cases per 100,000. 

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 129.77 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 57.39 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 48.32 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 45.16 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 36.97 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 34.56 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 32.38 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 24.68 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 16.81 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 7.68 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 5.02 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 380 Alaska residents, 189 are male, 190 are female and one is unknown. 29 are under the age of 10; 38 are aged 10-19; 85 are aged 20-29; 75 are aged 30-39; 48 are aged 40-49; 47 are aged 50-59; 33 are aged 60-69; 18 are aged 70-79 and seven are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 450 hospitalizations and 84 deaths, with six new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,465. 

There are currently 80 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 17 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 97 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Nine of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 9.78%.

TESTING – A total of 624,755 tests have been conducted, with 23,860 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 6.58%. 

FAIRBANKS PIONEER HOME UPDATE – Since the last update on Oct. 27, no residents and four 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 30 staff. As of today, one resident and four staff members are active cases. Another resident has died, bringing the total number of deaths to three. Our thoughts are with the loved ones and family of the resident who died. No residents are currently hospitalized.

Testing of both residents and staff is being conducted every 3-4 days and will continue until 14 days have passed without any additional cases being identified.

MODELING APP – The modeling application is intermittently down and may experience periodic disruptions this week as the data team troubleshoots and resolves the problem. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

TEXT NOTIFICATIONS – DHSS is upgrading its subscription to GovDelivery. During this transition, there may be a disruption in service for text notifications. These notifications will continue to be received by email and can be accessed online.

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 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 seem likely to remain at this level or higher for the near future.

This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 2 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. Total number of hospital beds available fluctuate daily as the number of available hospital staff changes. All data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change. To view more data visit: data.coronavirus.alaska.gov