Alaska COVID-19 Case Count Summary: Nov. 17, 2020

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020

DHSS today announced one death and 637 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 631 are residents in: Anchorage (433), Eagle River (52), Fairbanks (20), Wasilla (20), Soldotna (16), Kenai (15), Chugiak (10), Bethel (8), Juneau (5), Palmer (5), Dillingham (4), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula boroughs (4), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (4), Homer (3), Kodiak (3), North Pole (3), Bethel Census Area (2), Girdwood (2), Kusilvak Census Area (2), Nome (2), Sitka (2), Sterling (2), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (2), North Slope Borough (2), Utqiaġvik (2) and one each in Aleutians West Census Area, Healy, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Kotzebue, Nikiski, Seward and Sutton-Alpine.

Six new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:

• Anchorage: one with purpose under investigation
• Locations under investigation: five cases with purposes under investigation

Three resident cases and two nonresident cases were added to the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 23,874 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,167.

ALERT LEVELS – The statewide and regional alert levels are temporarily unavailable through the modeling application and the numbers reported in the alert level map in the cases dashboard are being reviewed. The data team is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 631 Alaska residents, 318 are male and 313 are female. 56 are under the age of 10; 53 are aged 10-19; 134 are aged 20-29; 117 are aged 30-39; 86 are aged 40-49; 74 are aged 50-59; 68 are aged 60-69; 30 are aged 70-79 and 13 are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 562 hospitalizations and 99 deaths, with 14 new hospitalizations and one new death reported yesterday. The individual who died was a male Anchorage resident in his 90s. Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individual who died.  

There are currently 126 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 17 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 143 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Eleven of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 12.7%.

TESTING – A total of 878,622 tests have been conducted, with 24,434 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 7.91%. 

CHANGES TO THE DATA HUB

Recovered and active cases: Due to the increase in cases statewide, certain areas of data entry are lagging far behind real-time and we are not able to update cases with the date they are released from isolation (recovered). This information is not electronically reported to the Section of Epidemiology and staffing capacity limits our ability to follow-up and verify the recovery status of each person. As a result, we have removed the active and recovered case counts from the data hub today to prevent inaccurate or outdated information from being reported.

Our priority is to maintain the most accurate count of confirmed cases daily. We recognize the public and many communities follow these data points closely, however, incomplete or misleading information can lead to misinformation and loss of confidence in our data.

Communities that display this information on their local dashboards will need to modify their graphics or displays as the data will no longer be available through the COVID-19 Response Data Hub. The CDC offers resources to understand how long cases are likely to be infectious and should be isolating. Most cases would be considered “active” for 10 days, or for 20 days in instances of severe illness. Communities can use their area’s onset epidemiology curve from the dashboard and assume that cases are likely recovered 10 days after onset. Please see these CDC webpages for more guidance about isolation:

• cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html
• cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/isolation.html

The best way to evaluate the level of risk in your area is to check the regional alert levels which are based on the 14-day average of daily cases per 100,000. Any region that is above 10 daily cases per 100,000 is considered high risk and is experiencing widespread community transmission.

Onset date: If onset date is missing for a case, the date of specimen collection will now be used.

ALASKA PIONEER HOMES UPDATE

Anchorage: A new outbreak of COVID-19 cases was identified on Nov. 3 at the Anchorage Pioneer Home. Since the last update on Nov. 10, nine residents and four staff have tested positive for a total of 15 residents and seven staff associated with this outbreak. One resident is hospitalized and there have been no deaths.

As is standard practice during an outbreak, ongoing testing of residents and staff is being conducted every 3-4 days. Enhanced personal protective equipment, dedicated staffing, and housing positive patients together as much as possible are all being used to prevent further spread within the home. The State Emergency Operations Center is providing testing supplies, PPE and needed materials at the request of the home.

Fairbanks: Since the last update on Nov. 10, no new cases of COVID-19 have been identified at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home and there are no active cases. The total number of cases at the home since Sept. 21 remains at 38 residents and 32 staff, with three deaths. Another round of testing is being conducted today and if all tests come back negative, testing frequency will move to weekly for both staff and residents.

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. 16 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.