Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 8, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020

DHSS today announced 512 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 510 are residents in: Anchorage (271), Wasilla (32), Kenai (24), Fairbanks (21), Soldotna (19), Bethel Census Area (17), Ketchikan (16), Eagle River (14), Bethel (11), Palmer (9), Chevak (7), Kodiak (6), North Pole (6), Utqiaġvik (5), Kenai Peninsula Borough South (4), Delta Junction (3), Homer (3), Juneau (3), Seward (3), Willow (3), Anchor Point (2), Big Lake (2), Dillingham (2), Kotzebue (2), Kusilvak Census Area (2), Mat-Su Borough (2), Nome Census Area (2), North Slope Borough (2), Sterling (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2) one each in Chugiak, Cordova, Craig, Dillingham Census Area, Hoonah-Angoon plus Yakutat, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, , Lake and Peninsula and Bristol Bay Boroughs, Metlakatla, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Sitka, Valdez and two locations under investigation.

Two new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in Anchorage with purposes under investigation. 

Eight resident cases were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 18,716 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,110.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 55.07 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are now in high alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 115.38 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 70.05 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 58.5 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 57.31 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 36.71 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 34.93 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 30.15 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 26.81 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 21.75 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 20.78 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 11.52 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 510 Alaska residents, 253 are male, 251 are female and five are unknown. 31 are under the age of 10; 60 are aged 10-19; 108 are aged 20-29; 114 are aged 30-39; 75 are aged 40-49; 56 are aged 50-59; 41 are aged 60-69; 21 are aged 70-79 and 4 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 482 hospitalizations and 84 deaths, with four new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,512. There are currently 100 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 19 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 119 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.7%.

TESTING – The testing dashboard has been temporarily disabled while the data team troubleshoots a problem with the testing data. We anticipate it to be fixed early next week.

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. 7 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