Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 10, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020

DHSS today announced eight new deaths and 531 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 524 are residents in: Anchorage (229), Bethel Census Area (52), Wasilla (40), Fairbanks (31), Kenai (25), Soldotna (23), Bethel (15), Utqiaġvik (11), Eagle River (10), North Pole (9), Ketchikan (7), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (5), Kotzebue (5), Kusilvak Census Area (5), Juneau (4), North Slope Borough (4), Palmer (11), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (4), Chugiak (3), Healy (3), Sterling (3), Chevak (2), Hooper Bay (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough South (2), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (2), Kodiak (2), Nikiski (2), SE Fairbanks Census Area (2), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (2), and one each in Dillingham, Dillingham Census Area, Homer, Hoonah-Angoon and Yakutat, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Nome Census Area, Seward, Valdez, and Willow.  

Seven new nonresident cases were identified yesterday:

• Anchorage: one with purpose under investigation
• Northwest Arctic Borough: two with purpose under investigation
• North Slope Borough: two with purpose under investigation
• Two cases with location and purpose under investigation

One resident case was added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 19,712 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,120.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 57.62 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are in high alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 140.9 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 73.87 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 61.56 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 55.57 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 38.02 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 33.52 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 29.92 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 28.94 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 26.88 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 21.75 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 12.92 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 524 Alaska residents, 255 are male, 267 are female and two are unknown. 43 are under the age of 10; 55 are aged 10-19; 112 are aged 20-29; 119 are aged 30-39; 59 are aged 40-49; 59 are aged 50-59; 50 are aged 60-69; 21 are aged 70-79 and seven are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 495 hospitalizations and 92 deaths, with 13 new hospitalizations and eight new deaths reported yesterday. Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individuals who died.  

Recent deaths:

• a female Wasilla resident in her 90s
• a male Anchorage resident in his 70s
• a male Anchorage resident in his 80s
• a female Anchorage resident in her 60s
• a male Anchorage resident in his 60s

In addition, three deaths are reported following death certificate review:

• a female Wasilla resident in her 90s
• a female Anchorage resident in her 40s
• a male Kenai resident in his 60s  

Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,512. 

There are currently 110 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 17 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 127 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Ten of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.2%.

TESTING – A total of 828,140 tests have been conducted, with 24,840 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 7.81%. 

ALASKA PIONEER HOMES UPDATE

Fairbanks: Since the last update on Nov. 3, two residents and two staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home. This brings the total number of cases at the home since Sept. 21 to 38 residents and 32 staff. As of today, the four positive residents and staff are active cases. There have been no additional deaths or hospitalizations, with the total number of deaths remaining at three.

Where they are able, staff are organizing modified activities for residents to participate in safely to reduce loneliness and boredom.

Anchorage: A new outbreak of COVID-19 cases was identified on Nov. 3 at the Anchorage Pioneer Home. Since that date, there have been a total of 10 residents and four staff members who have tested positive. As of today, 10 residents and four staff are considered active cases and there are no deaths or hospitalizations associated with this outbreak.

At both Pioneer Homes, testing of residents and staff is being conducted every 3-4 days and will continue until 14 days have passed without any additional cases being identified. The State Emergency Operations Center is providing testing supplies, personal protection equipment and needed materials at the request of the homes.  

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. 9 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.