Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 5, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020

DHSS today announced 296 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 291 are residents in: Anchorage (136), Bethel (34), Fairbanks (20), Wasilla (17), Eagle River (14), Palmer (12), Chugiak (7), Utqiaġvik (7), Soldotna (6), Ketchikan (5), Chevak (4), Bethel Census Area (3), Kenai (3), North Pole (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (3), Juneau (2), Sterling (2) and one each in Big Lake, Delta Junction, Douglas, Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kodiak, Nome, Nome Census Area, Seward, Sitka, Unalaska, Willow and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Five new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Prudhoe Bay: one in the North Slope oil industry
• Wasilla: one with purpose under investigation
• Location under investigation: one visitor
• Two cases with location and purpose under investigation

Seventeen 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 17,072 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,102.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 49.7 cases per 100,000. 

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 112.66 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 60.04 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 53.42 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 48.71 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 39.18 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 35.93 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 34.84 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 24.98 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 17.8 cases per 100,000

Intermediate (5-10 cases/100,000)

• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 9.08 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 7.53 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 291 Alaska residents, 140 are male and 151 are female. 17 are under the age of 10; 32 are aged 10-19; 68 are aged 20-29; 42 are aged 30-39; 46 are aged 40-49; 37 are aged 50-59; 27 are aged 60-69; 16 are aged 70-79 and six are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 465 hospitalizations and 84 deaths, with ten new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,476. 

There are currently 94 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 15 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 109 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 9.1%.

TESTING – A total of 781,826 tests have been conducted, with 29,173 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 7.15%. 

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. 4 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