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

Alaska DOH sent this bulletin at 11/19/2020 04:24 PM AKST

Daily Case Count Update

CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020

DHSS today announced one new death of an Alaska resident and 505 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 500 are residents in: Anchorage (248), Bethel (29), Soldotna (28), Wasilla (22), Fairbanks (20), Kenai (19), Delta Junction (11), Sterling (11), Eagle River (10), Homer (9), Bethel Census Area (8), Palmer (8), Kodiak (7), Bristol Bay/Lake & Peninsula Borough (6), Sitka (6), Utqiaġvik (6), Juneau (5), Chugiak (4), Nome (4), North Pole (4), Girdwood (3), Kotzebue (3), Seward (3), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (3), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (3), Anchor Point (2), Ketchikan (2), and one each in Big Lake, Denali Borough, Dillingham, Douglas, Houston, Kenai Peninsula Borough North, Kenai Peninsula Borough South, Kusilvak Census Area, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Nikiski, Nome Census Area, Skagway and Yakutat/Hoonah-Angoon.

Five new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:

  • Homer: one with purpose under investigation
  • Location under investigation: one in North Slope Oil
  • Locations under investigation: three with purposes under investigation

Ten resident cases and two nonresident cases were subtracted from the dashboard through data verification procedures. This brings the total number of Alaska resident cases to 24,909 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,172.

ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 75.8 cases per 100,000. All regions of Alaska are in high alert status.

High (>10 cases/100,000)

  • YK-Delta Region: 152.3 cases per 100,000
  • Anchorage Municipality: 109.72 cases per 100,000
  • Kenai Peninsula Borough: 91.05 cases per 100,000
  • Other Interior Region: 49.96 cases per 100,000
  • Matanuska-Susitna Region: 46.77 cases per 100,000
  • Northwest Region: 41.66 cases per 100,000
  • Fairbanks North Star Borough: 38.66 cases per 100,000
  • Juneau City and Borough: 31.04 cases per 100,000
  • Other Southeast Region - Southern: 29.38 cases per 100,000
  • Southwest Region: 28.18 cases per 100,000
  • Other Southeast Region - Northern: 22.35 cases per 100,000

MODELING APP – The modeling application, which provides the Projected Epidemiological Curve, Reproductive Number and Average Daily Rate, is temporarily unavailable while it’s being revised to take into account the changes to onset date for cases and removal of active and recovered cases.

CASES: SEX & AGES – Of the 500 Alaska residents, 249 are male, 246 are female and five are unknown. 27 are under the age of 10; 44 are aged 10-19; 91 are aged 20-29; 116 are aged 30-39; 74 are aged 40-49; 70 are aged 50-59; 38 are aged 60-69; 31 are aged 70-79, and nine are aged 80 or older.

CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 581 hospitalizations and 100 deaths, with eight new hospitalizations and one new death reported yesterday. The individual who died was an Anchorage male resident in his 40s. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

There are currently 127 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and 22 additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 149 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Fourteen of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 11.9%.

TESTING – A total of 898,799 tests have been conducted, with 24,596 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 8.03%. 

Our condolences

Behind all of our statistics are individuals. Today, we are announcing one new death of an Alaska resident from COVID-19, which brings the total number of Alaskans who have died from COVID-19 to 100 individuals. Our heartfelt thoughts are with the family and loved ones of each of these individuals and with all of those affected by this pandemic.

In addition to these 100 Alaskans who have died, one nonresident has also died from COVID-19 while visiting Alaska. That death is noted on our dashboard under the nonresident section but is officially counted by that individual’s state of residence.

Our deepest condolences to all.

Acknowledgement of 100 deaths from COVID-19

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. 18 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.