Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 16, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020

DHSS today announced 563 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 556 are residents in: Anchorage (351), Bethel (39), Eagle River (35), Wasilla (21), Fairbanks (15), Soldotna (12), Bethel Census Area (11), Juneau (8), Delta Junction (8), Homer (8), Kenai (6), Palmer (6), Chugiak (5), Kenai Peninsula Borough South (4), Nome (3), North Pole (3), Kenai Peninsula Borough North (2), Kotzebue (2), Kusilvak Census Area (2), Seward (2), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (2) and one each in Chevak, Douglas, Girdwood, Hooper Bay, Kodiak, Kodiak Island Borough, NW Arctic Borough, Sitka, Sterling, Sutton-Alpine and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Seven new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:

• Anchorage: two with purposes under investigation
• Homer: one with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: four cases with purposes under investigation

Twenty-two resident cases were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 23,240 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,159.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 70.01 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are now in high alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

• YK-Delta Region: 150.13 cases per 100,000
• Anchorage Municipality: 97.12 cases per 100,000
• Kenai Peninsula Borough: 78.69 cases per 100,000
• Matanuska-Susitna Region: 51.4 cases per 100,000
• Northwest Region: 43.74 cases per 100,000
• Fairbanks North Star Borough: 40.67 cases per 100,000
• Other Interior Region: 39.3 cases per 100,000
• Juneau City and Borough: 35.06 cases per 100,000
• Other Southeast Region - Southern: 30.82 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 556 Alaska residents, 289 are male, 266 are female and one is unknown. 48 are under the age of 10; 65 are aged 10-19; 108 are aged 20-29; 116 are aged 30-39; 79 are aged 40-49; 62 are aged 50-59; 53 are aged 60-69; 20 are aged 70-79 and five are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 548 hospitalizations and 98 deaths, with nine new hospitalizations and no new deaths reported yesterday. Individuals who no longer require isolation (recovered cases) total 6,516. Note: Changes to reporting of recovered and active cases are coming this week and will be accompanied by an explanation at the time they are implemented.

There are currently 128 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 22 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 150 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Fourteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 12.6%.

TESTING – A total of 872,347 tests have been conducted, with 27,802 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 8.31%. 

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. 15 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.