Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 15, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020

DHSS today announced 654 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 642 are residents in: Anchorage (339), Fairbanks (58), Wasilla (32), Eagle River (30), Soldotna (25), Juneau (15), Kenai (14), Sitka (13), Bethel Census Area (12), Kodiak (12), North Pole (12), Homer (7), Palmer (7), Chugiak (6), Bethel (5), Delta Junction (5), Ketchikan (5), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula borough (4), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (3), North Slope Borough (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (3), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (3), Anchor Point (2), Girdwood (2), Kenai Peninsula Borough South (2), Kotzebue (2), Mat-Su Borough (2), Metlakatla (2), Nikiski (2), Nome (2), Seward (2) and one each in Aleutians East Borough, Big Lake, Dillingham, Ester, Kusilvak Census Area, Nome Census Area, Sterling, Utqiaġvik, Wrangell and two locations under investigation.

Twelve new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:

• Aleutians East Borough: one in seafood industry
• Anchorage: two with purposes under investigation
• Fairbanks: one with purpose under investigation
• Prudhoe Bay: one with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: seven cases with purposes under investigation

Six 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 22,662 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,152.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 68.03 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are now in high alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 141.44 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 91.71 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 76.36 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 54.02 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 43.74 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 42.83 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 37.17 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 33.94 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 31.53 cases per 100,000
• Southwest Region: 23.48 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Northern: 20.6 cases per 100,000

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 642 Alaska residents, 329 are male, 310 are female and three are unknown. 40 are under the age of 10; 68 are aged 10-19; 121 are aged 20-29; 136 are aged 30-39; 97 are aged 40-49; 66 are aged 50-59; 63 are aged 60-69; 37 are aged 70-79 and 14 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 539 hospitalizations and 98 deaths, with one new hospitalization and no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,515. 

There are currently 125 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 23 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 148 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Seven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.8%.

TESTING – A total of 867,382 tests have been conducted, with 26,151 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 8.35%. 

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. 14 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.